Carousel
by Mazauric
Summary: Post-Persona 5. Recovering from the events of his year in Tokyo, Akira returns to his hometown with a semi-clean slate. But fate always has other plans for him which is how he ends up in another interrogation room, needle on the floor, prosecutor staring him down and a dim recollection of how he got there. But it's different this time. This time, Akechi Goro is on his side.
1. Chapter 1

**4/15 - Friday**

He feels like shit.

The first thing Akira sees when he opens his heavy eyes is a steel table and dark surroundings. It's a hauntingly familiar landscape and for a moment, the strongest feeling of deja-vu hits him. Especially when he notices the used needle tossed on the floor, not too far from where he sits.

He brings his hands up to his face and eyes the handcuffs around his wrists.

This again.

He can't remember how he got here. Not in detail anyway. The whole thing is pretty blurry, there might have been some screaming, some busted doors, it all happened pretty fast. What matters is the here and now and right now, he's pretty fucked. It's not like this is part of a greater plan where his friends save him, he's fucked.

There is no backup plan. No genius in the background. No Phantom Thieves.

All of this was executed - flawlessly - by someone he doesn't know and it's the anonymity that puts him in real danger. That someone has it out for him bad enough that he'd end up here again.

"Talk," a female voice demands and Akira looks up.

She's nothing like Nijima Sae but she's just as demanding and clueless about the real problem. The problem being that this time they've actually got the wrong guy. For once, Akira's hands are clean of this particular fuckup.

The woman before him is shorter than Sae was. Her hair is dark and tied back in a bun so tight it actually pulls her eyebrows up a little. Her clothes are dark, formal, standard, nothing special about them except the tiny blue butterfly brooch that sticks out on the left side of her collar.

Akira guesses that the brooch wasn't part of the uniform.

Her hand slams on the table, making it shake and Akira's eyes flick to hers. She's angry, he can read her pretty well but he can't tell her anything she wants to know. He doesn't know anything.

She sighs and sits down. She opens the folder in front of herself and turns it to show Akira a picture of a man with balding grey hair and an almost permanent hunch. As if he's been working hunched over a computer for too long. His body looks too thin and doesn't fit the suit he wears and Akira knows him.

He's the principal of his current school. His new school.

"Tell me what you know," the woman demands "The day you return to school is the very day this happens. I don't believe in coincidences, only connections."

Akira shakes his head. His fingers twitch and he moves the cuffs around just a little but he's as stuck as he was before.

His wordless answer only enrages her more and she slams the table again "Talk!" she demands "This is no coincidence! With your record, no school in the country should have taken you. You were lucky there remained one school that did. But on the very day you returned to school, this happened. It had to be connected to you!"

That sounded strangely familiar. All of this does. Only this time Akira isn't suffering from some strange memory loss, he remembers quite clearly how he got here and why he's in this chair now. He remembers the looks on his parents faces when he came home from Tokyo. The night of celebration he had with his friends before they had to leave.

He remembers Futaba clinging to his leg as Makoto had to drag her off. Ann's tearful face as she said goodbye, Yusuke saying something deep and philosophical to hide how much he'd really miss him. There was Haru's kind smile and one last hug before they got on the road again and out of his life.

...for about two days before Ryuji came back and declared he'd transferred and moved to Akira's town because ' _Shujin Academy sucks ass, my only friends are girls and Yusuke might as well be a girl too. Plus my ma likes it here more, it's quieter.'_

It was the false accusation last year that had gotten him expelled from his last school but the consequences of it were lingering still even as he returned with a clean slate. His parents had found a school and Ryuji had promptly followed suit, enrolling on the very same day. Things were looking up. New school, clean(ish) slate and a friend to go through it all with him. Though Morgana was quite vocal about having to put up with Ryuji again, Akira had a feeling the cat was happy about it too.

Then came the day. The very first day of school.

" _Dude this place may not be like Tokyo but the ramen!" Ryuji exclaims as they walk together to school._

 _In a quieter town like the one Akira lives in, it isn't like Tokyo where he was mashed into the train every morning. In fact he barely needs to take the train, it's a twenty minute walk at best to school and Ryuji had loudly proclaimed he could run that in five._

 _Akira feels Morgana's weight in his backpack, a twitch of a smile plays on his lips as he watches Ryuji's eyes get wide - the way they do when he's excited about something._

" _Fuck man, I've never tasted ramen like that," Ryuji goes on "Next time the gang come back down, we're taking them there."_

 _Akira's bag shuffles a bit as Morgana pokes his head out "You really think they're gonna come back down here?" he asks skeptically "Lady Ann might not even like ramen! She's into cakes and desserts and things like that high class place we were in last time."_

 _Ryuji wrinkles his nose "That place was full of snobby, rich assholes who looked at us like we'd spent the whole time shitting on their couches. Fuck places like that."_

 _Morgana hums in thought and relents "True," he says "But at least the food was good."_

 _Ryuji notices other students wearing their uniform and reaches over to stuff Morgana's head in Akira's bag again._

" _Yo get down," he scolds as he zips the bag up "And don't come out until it's safe."_

 _Morgana protests, loudly, but it's muffled from the zip and Ryuji grins at Akira._

" _New school, new teachers," he says enthusiastically "New track team."_

" _Will you be alright?" Akira asks with a nod to Ryuji's leg._

 _Ryuji shrugs "There's no Kamoshida here and all I can do is give it my all. Besides, I ran from a sinking ship and onto a rail, I think I can handle a high school track team."_

 _The memory makes Akira smile, just a little and he watches Ryuji. The boy is an open creature, he's blunt, honest and to the point but he hides a lot of his pain behind bravado and loud gestures. Akira learnt fairly quickly that Ryuji's most honest emotions were in his eyes._

 _Not that he needed to look there, Ryuji trusted Akira enough to let him know almost everything that went on in his head. Especially the things he never told anyone else._

" _What about…" Akira stops. It had bothered him that he was going to live in a different city and go to a different school than his friends but Ryuji had transferred so quickly, he hadn't thought about what the other must have been thinking._

 _Ryuji smirks knowingly "Ann?" he cocks his head and shrugs "She'll be fine. She's got Haru and Makoto...and Yusuke. Dude, I wasn't gonna leave you alone. Besides, there's not much chance of my deadbeat father finding us here. It's better here. For both me and my ma."_

 _Ryuji's hand finds Akira's shoulder and the grin on his face reaches his eyes. That's how Akira knows he's truly okay._

" _Good," Ryuji says with an over exaggerated stretch "Now that, that's out of the way we can…" he stops mid-stretch and Akira looks over to see a girl, paused in the footpath with her phone in her hand but her eyes on the both of them._

" _Suzui?" Ryuji's eyes widen._

 _Suzui Shiho looks surprised….and a lot better than the last time Akira had seen her. She still has her hair in a ponytail, brace on her leg but somehow she seems...stronger. Less like she's going to be knocked over by the wind._

" _Sakamoto-kun?" Shiho asks and turns her eyes to Akira "Kurusu-kun? What are you two doing here?"_

" _I could ask the same," Ryuji points out "Clearly we're all going to the same school again. You transferred, right?"_

 _Shiho nods and turns her dark eyes onto Akira. She nods a little in silent greeting and Akira follows to do the same. He'd been there after all, he'd witnessed her saying farewell to Ann, she'd still been recovering then but now she seems somehow stronger. Wiser. Not as downtrodden as she had been last year._

" _How is Ann?" she asks as the three of them walk to school. Shiho falls into step beside Ryuji and Akira as easily as Ann had. But not with Ann's confidence._

" _Haven't you been keeping in touch?" Ryuji asks, his hands jammed into his pockets again._

" _We have but you must have seen her more recently," Shiho points out quietly "Is she...okay?"_

" _She misses me," Ryuji brags "But she's fine dude, she's got her friends over there and she's doing what she wants. As usual."_

 _A fond smile lights up Shiho's expression and she nods in approval "That does sound like her. I don't expect anything less."_

" _Neither does she," Ryuji mutters._

 _They pass through the school gates and Akira feels the cool breeze of anonymity. When he first came to Shujin, everyone knew who he was thanks to Mishima. There were rumours, people whispering in really loud voices around him and whilst this didn't outwardly bother him, it had been something he'd noticed._

 _Here, nobody seems to care and it's actually refreshing._

 _He watches the students walking towards the school, talking to each other about mundane things that actually aren't exaggerated stories of his criminal deeds and it's so blissfully normal it might actually become boring when the novelty wears off._

" _Oh yeah," Shiho looks up as they walk into the hallways "There's an assembly this morning. The principal had an announcement."_

" _Another assembly?" Ryuji complains "Dude, those never end well."_

 _Akira shrugs "Kamoshida's ended well," he reminds him quietly and doesn't miss the way Shiho shivers at the mention of Kamoshida's name._

 _Stronger, wiser, but the scars are still there._

" _We gotta go to the faculty office anyway," Ryuji points out as he rubs his hair about to disguise nerves "Hopefully this time they put us in the same class."_

 _Akira follows the two of them and Shiho parts from them on the second floor._

" _It's just down there," she says, pointing down the hallway "Third door to the right."_

 _With a small bow, she turns on her heel and heads off to her class. Ryuji pauses for a moment to watch her leave and when she's gone, he turns back to Akira._

" _What were the odds, of all the schools in Japan, we'd end up in the same one as her again?"_

" _Small," Akira comments dryly and nods to the faculty office "Let's go."_

 _There's a rush of nostalgia and familiarity as Akira opens the door to the faculty office and finds the teacher he's supposed to be seeing. The woman is no Kawakami but she bears a slight similarity in that Akira can very easily imagine her in a maid outfit._

 _Her name is Kojima and when she stands up, she's still shorter than both Ryuji and Akira. Her hair is jet black, straight and silky, her eyes are huge and dark and Akira can actually hear Ryuji's breathing quicken when he realises her body is nothing to scoff at either. Even under the teacher clothes._

" _Sakamoto Ryuji and Kurusu Akira," Kojima sighs as she takes out their files and looks over them. Her dark eyes assess them both "You're both in my class."_

" _Yesss…" Ryuji hisses to himself._

" _Given your record," Kojima continues, her eyes on Akira "Just know, the entire school will be keeping a very close eye on you. One toe out of line and you're out."_

" _Dude he was innocent!" Ryuji argues right away - apparently no longer smitten with her body or looks as long as she threatens his friend "They even proved that!"_

" _Regardless, we have no tolerance for troublemakers," Kojima's tone gets harder and so do her eyes "Do I make myself clear?"_

 _Ryuji glares and he looks like he's about to say something else when Akira shoots him a look. Not here. Not now. It's not worth it._

 _Ryuji deflates immediately and scowls at the floor instead "Fine," he mutters._

 _Akira nods and Kojima's expression switches from hard to pleased right away._

" _Good," she beams "For your own sake, it would be better to keep that to yourself as well. We don't want to disturb the other students."_

 _Now Akira definitely feels a wave of deja-vu._

 _She leads them out of the faculty office just as the bells indicate the first period. Kojima's shoes click slightly on the floor as she leads them towards their classroom._

" _There's an assembly on first thing," she explains "The principal has an announcement and your attendance is mandatory. After that however, class will begin."_

 _Ryuji and Akira exchange glances, following her as she opens the sliding door and lets them into a classroom that quietens as she comes in._

" _Right, let's do this fast because there's assembly," Kojima announces "We have two new students with us here and we don't have time for introductions. Kurusu-kun," she turns to Akira and points at the seat near the window "You'll take that desk and Sakamoto-kun, you're over there."_

 _She points to the back, somewhere near the middle. Akira spots Shiho smiling from where she sits two rows ahead of him. He can see relief in her eyes._

" _Right," Kojima announces "To the assembly hall and be quick about it."_

 _Akira and Ryuji drop their bags at their desks and follow the rest of the class as they murmur amongst each other and file out of the classroom. As they walk, Ryuji huffs._

" _It's bullshit that you still have a record," he grumbles "You turned yourself in to get the charge to stick to Shido and it was through that, that Nijima Sae proved your innocence. How do you still have a record after that?"_

" _Don't mind it," Akira shrugs, noticing his bag wriggling as he leaves the classroom. He wonders if Morgana can breathe in there._

 _They file into the assembly hall and stand in lines as usual. Ryuji stands in front of Akira, the two of them looking around and watching as the teachers file onto the stage, followed by a man in a brown suit they can only assume is the principal._

 _He's so thin. He looks like the slightest wind would knock him down flat and the suit is at least three sizes larger than he actually is. Akira eyes his balding spots of grey hair, the bags under his eyes and the slow pace he walks as he makes his way across the stage._

" _I know someone who needs a nap," Ryuji mutters to him quietly._

" _Good morning, Shinsou Academy," he croaks into the microphone "As you are aware, a series of events have caused this assembly to become a necessity. Recent events have hit our student body hard and it is our job as teachers to reassure your safety and protection."_

 _For once, Akira is completely out of the loop. He frowns and sees Ryuji just as confused. The both of them look at Shiho, who is still and listening intently. She knows what he's talking about._

" _A...seasoned principal would assure you that your safety is guaranteed within these walls but I can't say the same," the man continues tiredly "It would be a lie. The events of the last two weeks in particular have made it clear that the student body, the faculty and even the board of this school are at high risk and I would ask that everyone exercise caution."_

" _Dude what the fuck is going on here?" Ryuji asks, face full of concern as he notices everyone else in the hall is tense and hanging on the principal's words all of a sudden._

" _Police are working on discovering the root source of the disturbances but in the meantime…" the principal says and out of the corner of his eye, Akira sees someone walking up onto the stage. The figure is dressed in black, his head completely covered with a balaclava, eyes peeking out just barely through holes and hands covered in gloves._

 _The figure walks up onto the stage so fast, so purposefully that no one has a chance to stop him._

 _The rest of the student body and the teachers notice him a beat after Akira does and nobody has any time to do anything as the figure draws out a gun, points it at the principal and shoots him point blank in the head._

Back in the interrogation room, Akira shakes his head. He'd been in that school a grand total of thirty minutes and that happened. What happened afterwards was fairly fast as well, it might as well be a blur for all his memory recollects. He can see the woman across the table from him is impatient, angry and determined to get answers out of him but he doesn't know what to tell her.

He had nothing to do with this.

 _Screaming, running, Akira is nearly knocked off his feet and has just enough time to grab Ryuji before the blonde takes him away from the middle of the assembly. Over his shoulder, he sees the figure walking calmly off the stage again and nobody stops him. Nobody wants to go near him whilst he has a gun in his hand, even the teachers and staff make a run for it._

" _Suzui!" Ryuji screams amidst the chaos. He's got a hand on Akira's shoulder and it's so tight that he's never letting go. Akira is stunned, he's in shock but he watches the figure walking out of the hall as silently as he'd walked in._

 _Everyone's running for the doors but Akira spots Shiho, stunned and still standing where she'd been before. Ryuji takes him back to her and grabs her as well before making a run for the doors._

" _Ryuji," Akira says and although his feet are running with them, he wants to go after the shooter. He grabs Ryuji's arm and tries to get him to stop "Ryuji we have to-"_

" _Fuck that, we have to get out of here!" Ryuji shouts and drags both of them out of the assembly hall, through the crowded hallways and out through the entrance doors._

 _They stop running when they're at least two blocks away from the school. Ryuji lets them go and leans against a vending machine, he rests his hands on his knees and pants at the ground as Akira stares down the road they'd just been running down. Shiho's in shock, she's shaking and staring at the ground and all Akira can think is that he has to go after the shooter. Someone has to stop him, someone has to._

" _What...the fuck was that?" Ryuji asks, still panting hard from adrenaline and sudden exertion. He turns to look at Shiho "Do you have any idea what that was?!"_

 _Shiho can't answer, her eyes are wide and she's shaking so hard it's a miracle she's still on her feet._

" _She's in shock," Akira explains, his eyes still staring down the street. He picks himself up again and dusts his legs down "Look after her."_

" _Wait, where are you going?!" Ryuji squeaks in alarm "You better not-"_

" _Morgana," Akira says and takes off down the road he'd just come from. He hears Ryuji calling after him but it's like he's in water. The blood is rushing past his ears, shock and adrenaline at the same time and he can't hear anything. Can't feel anything but an overwhelming need to get his bag out of his homeroom class._

 _The school is empty when he returns. Akira sprints through the open doors and through the hallways he'd just come through. His legs take the stairs two at a time and his shoes squeak on the floors as he bursts into his empty homeroom class and runs for his bag._

 _When he gets there, two things happen at the same time. The first is he opens his bag and finds Morgana gone. The second is the doors burst open, there's shouting, armed police, someone grabs him, puts his hands behind his back and slams his head into the desk._

"You were the only one in the school," the woman tells him fiercely "The only student in the entire building, what kind of student runs back into the school after a shooting!?"

"I wanted my bag," Akira explains calmly.

The woman doesn't buy that for a second, she stares at him incredulously "There's a shooting, a man is shot in front of the entire student body and you go back into the building for your bag?! Do you really expect me to believe that?!"

Akira wonders if telling her there was a cat in his bag would make her believe him. Probably not. She seems determined to have someone answer for this. Anyone.

"I was in the assembly when it happened," he says instead "There are others who can say I was there."

"That doesn't mean you weren't associated with the shooter," she insists "With your background-"

"Of which I was proven innocent," Akira cuts in firmly.

She bristles "Still. Your ties to the Phantom Thieves in Tokyo cannot be ignored. Especially given what's happening."

Akira can't say anything. He doesn't know what is going on. He doesn't know what the principal had been talking about before someone came and shot him in front of the entire school. For once, he's totally and completely out of his area here and it feels a lot like the first time he went into Kamoshida's castle without yet realising where he was.

The woman is about to say more when another officer opens the door and looks at her.

"There's someone here to talk to you, detective," he says in a short, curt tone "He says it's important."

The woman stares at Akira for a few moments more before she gets up and leaves the room without another word. The officer glances at Akira and closes the door, leaving the boy alone in the room.

Akira takes a deep breath. He glances at the cuffs on his wrists again but leaves them be. His memory is still fuzzy and hazy but that's mostly due to the drugs. For the most part, he knows the important parts of what happened.

The irony. He's back for thirty minutes and this happens. That's got to be some kind of record.

Makoto would probably be impressed.

He waits for another two minutes and that's when the door opens and the woman walks back in, her face dark and unimpressed but something shifted. She looks...reluctant.

"You're free to go," she tells him as an officer follows her in and grabs Akira. He wrenches him up onto his feet and Akira feels confusion wash over him.

"But we'll be keeping an eye on you," she says as the officer uncuffs him and hauls him out of the room.

Akira is dragged down the long hallways, up a flight of stairs and down another set of hallways before he finds himself in the front offices of the police department. He'd wonders if Ryuji gave them hell, or maybe his parents managed to convince someone he's innocent. But when he's taken to the front desk, the last person he expects to see is Akechi Goro smiling at him as if he hadn't been pointing a gun at his head the last time they spoke.

"Hey," the brown haired boy says as Akira is given to him "Let's go."

Akira blinks, he glances back at the police officers but follows Akechi out of the building. He feels their eyes burning a hole in his back the entire way.

Outside, it's dark already. Akira rubs his wrists and follows Akechi down the stairs, onto the footpath. He follows Akechi down the road and the brown haired boy doesn't say anything. Akira can't think of anything to ask him either. Not anything that Akechi would be willing to answer.

Akechi leads him into a small cafe. The waitress seats them at a booth and Akira is still finding it hard to concentrate. This is a lot to deal with in one day and he feels his body practically sigh in relief as he slides into the booth and sits opposite Akechi.

The other doesn't look much different from how he was before. Same soft brown locks, same deceptively gentle eyes. Akechi may have thought he fooled the rest of the world into thinking of him as someone harmless but intelligent, however Akira was never fooled. Ryuji could be read by the emotions in his eyes, Akechi couldn't and that was what had ultimately given him away.

Because only someone as guarded and secretive as Akechi was would have had to learn how to hide his emotions, even in his eyes.

Akechi orders coffee and Akira mumbles the same. When the waitress is gone and they're alone, Akira belatedly notices the cafe is pretty much empty, save for them and an old couple in the corner. Akechi chose well.

"I'm going to assume you have questions," Akechi says in that light but serious tone of his "But we have very little time and I need to get this out before...well…" he pulls his phone out and sets it on the table before turning his eyes onto Akira.

He still has that same stare. Like he knows everything that's going on in Akira's head. It would be disconcerting if Akira didn't know better.

"After that business with my father, I went into hiding," Akechi explains calmly "It was safer. For both of us and I was in no physical state to reappear."

Akira figures. If Akechi hadn't died back there, he was at least gravely injured. Futaba hadn't been able to read any signs of life coming from the other side of the barrier but Akira had always held out some home, miniscule though it was, that Akechi had survived.

Evidently, he had.

"But I always kept a close eye on you," Akechi continues "I saw everything. How you handed yourself in, how my father was finally convicted. It was a stroke of genius and I saw Sae's hand behind it."

Akira stays silent. The waitress brings them back their drinks and he keeps his eyes trained on Akechi. It's so like the other to be so calm and collected, even in this situation. The only reason why Akira understands him so easily is because he's the same. Not one for panicking.

"Anyway," Akechi sighs after he takes a sip of his coffee "Then I saw you come back here and of all the schools, of all the places you could have gone to…" he shakes his head "Either you somehow knew what was going on or you have the worlds worst luck."

"I'm going to go with the latter," Akira replies, tone sharp but patient.

Akechi nods "I thought so. But I'll explain what's going on once Sakamoto gets here. No doubt he'll ask and I hate repeating myself."

It doesn't take long. Ryuji bursts through the door like he's determined to rip the thing off its hinges and he's by Akira's side in seconds.

"Fuck man!" Ryuji says, plopping himself in the booth beside Akira "I saw the cops and I thought...for fucks sake you're...you gave me a heartattack. Don't do that again!"

He pulls Akira close with one arm around his shoulders and Akira thinks he sees a twinge of anger or discomfort in Akechi's eyes before the other skillfully hides it again behind his coffee.

"Morgana?" Akira asks.

Ryuji shook his head "I thought he was with you."

"He wasn't in the bag," Akira explains "That's when they…"

This doesn't make much sense. None of it does but when Ryuji finally registers Akechi's presence, his eyes widen in alarm "Dude, you're still alive?!"

"Perceptive as always, Sakamoto," Akechi drawls "Who did you think the message came from?"

"Dude, I thought you were Futaba or something!" Ryuji exclaims and Akira is distantly aware that he's the loudest thing in this quiet cafe. The old couple in the corner are scowling at him now for ruining their peace.

Akechi looks unimpressed too but he shakes his head and flicks the annoyance off like one would flick a fly away "Carrying on," he says, tone still unimpressed "You two have walked into Shinsou Academy at the worst possible time."

"Don't need a genius detective to tell me that," Ryuji grumbles.

Akechi ignores him "For the last two weeks, Shinsou Academy has been plagued with a series of unexplained and strange events. Students are going missing, some are attempting suicide, staff are reporting incidents of unprovoked violence and assault towards not only the student body but faculty as well."

Akira wonders if that was probably something Kojima should have warned them about on their first day.

Ryuji's eyebrows knit in confusion "You think someone is messing around with their heads? Like Mementos and shit?"

Akechi's eye twitches "No. You lot put a stop to that with your final stunt in the heart of Mementos, did you not?"

"Oh...right," Ryuji deflates.

"Even if that weren't the case and someone could still get into castles, that doesn't explain why we can't," Akechi continues and nods to Akira "You can't get back in, can you?"

Akira shakes his head. The app on his phone is gone but even Morgana, who never needed the app, couldn't return there. It's gone. It should be.

"Which means this is the result of something without supernatural means. A group branding themselves the Phantom Thieves are behind these attacks."

A beat. Akira feels Ryuji's rage light up before his own does and the other practically jumps out of his seat.

"But we're not-!"

"Clearly, they're a fake group using your name," Akechi cuts in before Ryuji can explode at him "But effective. They send out red calling cards just as the Phantom Thieves did and it's not long before something happens to the student or teacher they call out. The only reason these incidents have not been widely publicised is due to the efforts of the late principal. He had been working to keep these incidents from becoming public knowledge."

"Why?" Ryuji asks, eyebrows still knitted in a frown "And how? If there have been suicides….I mean everyone talked about Suzui after her attempt, there was nothing anyone could do to keep that down."

"Everyone in Shujin Academy talked about it," Akechi corrects him "The wider public didn't care. Student suicides are - sadly - a given, especially these days and the other incidents were easy to cover up. If the fake Phantom Thieves were after notoriety or fame, they just eliminated the only obstacle that was keeping their actions quiet."

"Won't they shut the school down after what happened?" Ryuji asks "I mean...that was a public execution. Right in front of all of us."

"No," Akechi answers "That's not going to happen. There are only two schools in this town and they can't afford to keep one student body at home, even for this incident. Investigations will continue but you will have to return to school and continue as normal."

Perhaps that's a little much to ask but there's a reasoning behind it that Akira can't deny.

"Fortunately, you won't be alone," Akechi promises "I will be transferring to your school as of tomorrow. We may not have the use of Personas to help us here but something is going on and I'm guessing you're not the 'running away' type."

He's right. Neither of them are. Akira doesn't even need to look at Ryuji to know the other isn't the kind to walk away from something like this - even if he knows it would be safer to. Without the use of Personas, they're as helpless as normal students.

Except they're not. Because they possess the will to get to the bottom of this - a trait not many students have. It's not much, but it's enough to keep them from running back to Tokyo and praying this goes away.

"Calling themselves the Phantom Thieves," Ryuji scowls "That's unforgivable enough. I'm not letting them get away with this."

Akechi smiles dryly "I figured as much," he says as his fingers close around the bottom of his cup "At the very least, we might be able to find some lead on who's behind this."

"We could use Futaba," Ryuji says "And Makoto and the others, maybe we could tell them…"

Akechi shakes his head right away "A large group of students from Tokyo suddenly transferring here would be noticed," he points out gravely "And if this group posing as the Phantom Thieves have any idea who they're posing as, that's a risk as well."

Ryuji opens his mouth to protest and stops when his brain catches up with him.

He deflates and sinks back in the booth "Shit," he mutters "Even if I tell Ann what's happening, nothing will stop her coming here. Especially if she hears Suzui is involved."

"Precisely why I suspect Suzui hasn't told her anything herself," Akachi deduces "The others should be kept in the dark as well. For now at least, until we know more."

"Fine," Ryuji relents. He eyes Akechi suspiciously "But dude seriously, how did you survive? Futaba said you'd died."

"I almost did," Akechi answers but he doesn't continue and the look in his eyes tells them both he's not going to go into the details either. It hardly matters right now, the point is he survived, he's here and they're in trouble….again.

Ryuji shoots Akira a doubtful look but even he understands the seriousness of this situation. Someone is posing as the Phantom Thieves, the principal has been murdered and Morgana is missing. In light of all that, Akechi turning up and getting Akira out of the interrogation room might just be more of a blessing than a curse.

"Now," Akechi says as he finishes his drink and places his cup down on the table "Onto the more serious business. Kurusu-kun, I seem to find myself in need of a place to stay."

Akira's eyebrows rise in surprise and Akechi grins at him "Just for the night. Think of it as a 'thank you' for getting you out of that interrogation room and keeping both of your parents in the dark about what happened to you."

"Dude, how did you even pull that off?" Ryuji asks, dumbfounded.

"I know how to talk to adults," Akechi explains with a flick of his hand "For your own sake, it might be safer if you're not alone tonight. With Morgana gone and the police keeping their eyes on you, it may be safer for you to have me around."

"Fuck that," Ryuji scoffs "He'll be safer with me around than you!"

Akechi ignores him and Akira tries to ignore the persistent flutter of nerves in his stomach. Akechi's gaze fools many into believing he's harmless and although Ryuji and Akira can't be fooled now, Akechi's eyes still do something weird to Akira.

"Fine," Akira relents at last and the smile that appears on Akechi's face reminds him of a lion with his prey.

He wonders if that makes him the prey in this instance.

"Excellent," Akechi beams "Then I suggest we go home soon. It's getting late and we wouldn't want your parents to suspect something happened to you."

He pays for their drinks and as he's busy at the counter, Ryuji takes Akira's arm and pulls him to the side "Watch your back," he warns him in a low voice "Anything happens, call me alright?"

Akira glances at Akechi over Ryuji's shoulder. The other is leisurely talking to the woman behind the counter but everything about him, his stance, his eyes, the way he holds himself, he's on guard. Akira has always been able to read people and Akechi is surprisingly the easiest of all to read.

Strange, considering nobody else can see through him.

"I'll get hold of Futaba," Akira says quietly "At the very least, she'll keep a secret and she's not likely to go here. She might be able to help us find Morgana...at best, the cat just ran off somewhere."

"Here's hoping,"' Ryuji huffs and lets go of Akira's arm as Akechi strolls up to them.

"Right," Akechi sighs "Let's go."

Akira can't tell what presumptions Akechi had about his life before the events of last year. What kind of student he'd been, what his parents had been life, his friends, his life before Shido took it off him, but it's nothing like it is now.

Despite the town remaining the same, almost all of his ties to friends and everything in his former school had been cut off the second he'd been slapped with an assault charge. The only things that had actually remained constant had been his house and his parents. Neither of whom batted an eye when he came home and casually informed them that Akechi was an old friend and he was staying the night.

Instead all that had happened was his mother had quietly laid out a futon on the floor of his bedroom and his father had grunted something about staying out of trouble before hiding behind his newspaper.

"Your parents are…" Akechi pauses, seemingly struggling for words as Akira lays a blanket out on the futon "...interesting."

It makes Akira smile. He chucks a pillow onto the futon and reaches to close his bedroom door before turning to look at the other boy "I think the word you're looking for is: cold."

Akechi raises and eyebrow and looks around Akira's room. Akira hasn't been here long enough but his room is generally as he left it. The bookcase is full of manga, textbooks and other things lying around on shelves. His desk still has some precision tools and lockpicks (Morgana actually insisted it was still important to learn this stuff, even if he is no longer a thief) and there's a sleeve sticking out of one of the drawers of his dresser. His bedroom is, for all intents and purposes, fairly normal. Not nearly as large as the one at Sakura's cafe had been.

"Not sure what I expected," Akechi says as Akira takes a seat on the end of his single bed "It's not like the leader of the real Phantom Thieves would deck his bedroom out any differently. If anything he'd be normal like this."

Akira pulls his phone out and looks over it for a moment, he turns to Akechi to see the other giving him a knowing look. Like he knows exactly what Akira plans to do.

"Futaba," he says simply.

"Fine," Akechi shrugs "I can't stop you. Besides, Sakura Futaba hardly seems like the type who'd gossip to the others. If anything, she'd understand the risk right away. If she isn't already aware of what's going on."

Just as he finishes his sentence, Akira's phone goes off and Futaba's name appears on the screen. Akechi grins and Akira wonders if his powers extend to predicting the future. If so, he'd like to know if he's going to survive the outcome of this impending danger...or tonight.

"AKIRA!" Futaba screams the second Akira dares to answer his phone "WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Nice to hear from you too, Futaba," Akira winces and rubs his ear.

"Thirty minutes?! Thirty minutes into your first day at school and THAT happens?!" Futaba splutters "That's...if I wasn't so worried, I'd say that's impressive."

"Do the others know?" Akira asks with a glance to Akechi who seems quite amused. The other boy settles down on the futon and just watches.

"Not yet, no," Futaba answers, her voice thankfully a couple of levels quieter "Do you want me to-"

"Don't worry them," Akira advises "Just...what do you know?"

He can practically hear Futaba's unimpressed huff "I know the police suspected you right away. Even if you hadn't gone back into the school grounds, they'd have come asking questions anyway because of your history and the fact that this happened the day you came back."

Akira glances at Akechi who nods. It would have happened regardless simply because of who he is. The consequences of what happened with Shido are far-reaching indeed.

"As for the attack...I've hacked into the security cameras. The assailant shoots the principal and walks out of the school, nobody stops him. There was an unmarked van waiting for him outside the gates, the license plate is blank and once it drives off, that's it."

"What about Morgana?" Akira asks "When I went back to the school-"

"You went to your bag, I saw," Futaba says "I checked the cameras but there are no cameras in the classrooms, only in the hallways. But I didn't see anyone coming back from the time you left the classroom to when you came back...save from a few students who went back for their bags after the shooting."

None of them had taken Akira's bag either.

"Didn't see Morgana walk out on his own either," Futaba sounds uneasy "Could he have gone out the window? Cats land on their feet right?"

"Even if he did jump that height, he couldn't have opened the windows by himself," Akira frowns and as worried as he is, he's still trying to figure out how Morgana seemingly just disappeared. How a cat can disappear from a classroom without ever showing up on the cameras.

The only logical solution is that Morgana had gone into someone elses backpack and had been taken out then, but why would Morgana do such a thing?

"I'll keep looking but we don't have a lot to go on here," Futaba continues warily "The news of the shooting will get out soon enough and once the others find out it's your school, they'll want to come."

"Stop them if you can," Akira advises. As much as he would like to see the others. Yusuke, Ann, Makoto, Haru and Futaba, he can't risk it. Not when he barely knows what's going on here. The only thing worse than getting caught up in this, is getting his friends caught up in it as well. Ryuji is already in it but he can still spare the others.

"I'll try," Futaba promises "I might be able to stop Ann, Haru and Yusuke but Makoto…"

"If all else fails just tell them I really don't want them here as long as I don't know what's going on," Akira tells her "They'll get in the way if they come here themselves."

"Alright…" Futaba still sounds doubtful.

Akechi is still watching Akira quietly. Akira doesn't really like the way Akechi's eyes make him feel and he looks away to concentrate on the phone call instead.

"This group calling themselves the Phantom Thieves...the new Phantom Thieves," Futaba continues "Given the nature of the previous attacks. Student suicides, assaults...all of it being hushed by the school, I believe we're dealing with students of that school. At best, we have at least one student in that school who is part of this group."

Akira nods "The figure I saw...he could have been an adult or a student."

"Yes it was hard to tell," Futaba agrees "I think right now, our best bet is to take a rollcall of the students present in that assembly and find out who was missing, then go from there. I'll have names for you tomorrow to start investigating."

"Sounds like a solid start," Akira nods and Akechi seems to agree as well "I'll leave it to you. Thanks Futaba."

"Wish you'd stayed here," Futaba grumbles "But maybe it was some sort of fate you ended up in the one school with a fake Phantom Thieves group."

Akira hums, he can't find much in the way of logical explanation here either. Nothing other than ' _it was fate'_ that he had to end up here of all places.

"Tell Akechi to keep his head down too," Futaba warns "People over there may not notice who he is but that fake Phantom Thieves group might."

Akechi shrugs and Akira shakes his head "I'll tell him."

"I'll call you tomorrow," Futaba promises "Don't get killed."

She hangs up and Akira puts his phone down. He looks at Akechi and the other seems to have no problem in watching him. Assessing him. Maybe it would make Akira feel more uncomfortable if he didn't have such a solid read on Akechi in return. There's nothing this guy can hide from him now, not now when he's seen him at his worst already.

"Well then," Akechi says with a smile that rushes right down Akira's spine "Shall we go to sleep?"

Akira shrugs, he lends Akechi a shirt to sleep in and changes in the bathroom. When he comes back, Akechi is already lying in the futon on the floor. Akira turns the light off and lays down on his own bed, his phone next to his head.

Silence drags on for about two minutes. During which Akira is acutely aware of Akechi's presence in his room.

It's strange. When Yusuke stayed over in his room that one time, it had been easy for Akira to forget he was even there. Aside from his quips and remarks, Yusuke was easy to ignore. He was even louder than Akechi and still he was easier to forget about.

Akechi however, Akira is very aware of him. He can't help it, it's like a twinge in his chest that won't let him forget that Akechi Goro is sleeping on the floor right next to his bed. His ears prick and can hear the other breathing and if he concentrates, he is even aware of the body heat the other produces.

"Kurusu," Akechi's soft voice breaks the silence and Akira closes his eyes. He doesn't answer, he doesn't need to, Akechi knows he's still awake.

"What do you live for?" he asks and it gives him away. Akira can read the tone right away.

At his core, Akechi has always been lonely. His desperate search for acceptance turned him into one of revenge and envy. It was what had driven him to the events that evidently nearly got him killed. He'd tried so hard to do this alone, to become famous, to be accepted and loved but it hadn't brought him what he really wanted. Then in those last moments before he'd shot the barrier up to save Akira and his friends, he'd understood at last. Akira had the one thing Akechi didn't have and that had been his end.

But Akira can't answer him. He doesn't have the answer himself. Not the one he suspects Akechi wants to hear.

After what had happened, Akechi had lost everything. His purpose, his drive. All he had left was himself. Abandoned, unloved by his own father, his mother hadn't cared enough to stay and had killed herself out of shame without thought for her own son. He had no friends, nobody he could honestly say he trusted.

No one but Akira himself.

When Akira doesn't answer, Akechi's chuckle is quiet "That's probably the right answer."

Akira can't help it. His lips twitch in a small smile and he turns his head, this time to sleep for real. He falls asleep to the sound of Akechi's breathing and somehow it makes him calmer than he has been in weeks.


	2. Chapter 2

**4/16 - Saturday**

It's the buzz of his cellphone that wakes him up.

Akira's mind is barely functioning and everything is blurry as he instinctively registers the annoying buzz of the phone next to his head. He rolls onto his side and grabs the phone, mumbling sleepily as he puts it to his ear.

"Akira," Futaba's voice rings in his ear "I did it. I found all the students who were absent from that assembly. I'm sending you the list now."

Akira groans. It's too early to deal with this and he can't even fully remember what happened yesterday. It's all a blur of screaming and rushing around and...oh right, someone shot the principal in front of the school.

Yeah...that.

"Okay," he sighs tiredly.

"Get on it. The news is reporting on the shooting even here so expect calls from the others. I've sent them all a message warning them not to go anywhere near your town until we know what's going on," Futaba warns.

Akira nods though he knows she can't see him. He's exhausted, it's like he's been in Mementos. The last thing he wants to do is get out of bed either, it's never been so warm and comfortable before.

"I'll call if there's anything else I find out," Futaba says "Until then, stay safe okay? There's a high chance that one of the students you talk to could be part of this fake group. If you die, I'll bring you back to life so I can kill you myself, okay?"

Akira makes an affirmative noise and that seems to be enough for her. She hangs up and he drops the phone onto his mattress.

He's about to fall asleep again when something shifts behind him. Akira's senses wake up a little more and he looks down.

There's an arm around his waist.

There's heat pressed up against his back and he looks over his shoulder to see a mop of soft brown hair.

He glances at the futon but it's empty. Akechi Goro is snuggled up to his back, squishing them both on the tiny bed.

For a moment, Akira is in one of those rare states of total shock and surprise. How the hell did Akechi get onto his bed without him noticing? Why?

That at least explains why the bed is so warm. Even when Morgana sleeps near his legs, Akira has never felt this warm before. He shifts slightly in the bed, twisting and turning until he's facing Akechi. The other is sound asleep, his head half on the pillow and brown locks softly tousled with sleep. Akira can't help but notice his long lashes, his slightly parted lips and his arm, heavy and firm around Akira's waist.

Even if Akira had imagined that one day he'd be sharing a bed with Akechi, he wouldn't have imagined the other was a snuggler.

But it's warm and strangely comforting and Akira's too tired to make sense of what this means about him or figure out why Akechi's in his bed to begin with. His eyes droop heavily and before he even realises it, he falls asleep to the sound of Akechi's breathing.

He wakes up some time later and Akechi's already awake. Akira rolls onto his back and sees the other pulling his socks on before he notices Akira's awake.

Akechi's smile is as warm as ever "Slept well?"

Akira yawns, he sits up and it's colder now. He rubs his hair and shakes his head "Don't think I didn't notice you in my bed," he says and feels a small sense of victory when Akechi pauses halfway through putting his other sock on.

"Ah," Akechi falters - rare for him. He puts his other sock on properly and looks at Akira "About that...you made some noises in your sleep. I wasn't sure what was going on with you but...I heard body heat helps and it did."

Akira wonders, distantly, what that says about him. That Akechi Goro snuggling like that into his back can calm him down enough to let him sleep more peacefully than he ever has before.

Truth be told, it probably just means he needs to get a girlfriend. He should have taken Hifumi up when he had the chance.

He checks his phone and notices the list Futaba sent him. There's approximately ten names of students, three of teachers. All of whom had been absent from the footage that Futaba had been prowling all night. Akira notices the notification on the top of his screen and reluctantly pulls it down to find five missed calls. Two of them from Makoto, one from Ann, one from Yusuke and one from Haru. There are twenty messages from all of them as well as Shinichiro and Sae. On top of that, the group chat is clogged.

 **Ann:** Akira! Answer your phone!

 **Makoto:** It's probably too early…

 **Ann:** Ryuji isn't answering either :(

 **Makoto:** Well we did have to get up earlier for assembly.

 **Yusuke:** It's all the news is talking about, there are no other channels that don't go on about this. Are they okay?

 **Futaba:** I told you guys already, they're fine. Akira says none of you can go anywhere near his town until we figure out what's going on.

 **Ann:** But…:(

 **Makoto:** I hate it, but he has a point. With the Metaverse gone, we're pretty helpless.

 **Yusuke:** Guns too. This is nothing we've gone up against before. Not in real life.

 **Haru:** Probably best to sit tight and hope for the best. But is it true? Akechi?

 **Futaba:** Yes. He's alive.

 **Ann:** …

 **Haru:** How?

 **Makoto:** My question exactly.

 **Futaba:** I don't know but he's alive. He's with Akira.

 **Ann:** Is that wise?

 **Makoto:** Is that safe?

 **Futaba:** If it wasn't, do you really think Ryuji would have let it happen?

 **Yusuke:** Point.

 **Futaba:** We have another problem too. Morgana went missing.

 **Yusuke:** Again?

 **Ann:** What happened?!

 **Futaba:** Like I said, I don't know. I only know the basics and the main point is, Akira doesn't want us anywhere near this so we'll have to stay in Tokyo. For now.

 **Makoto:** For now, but the second we do know something, we're coming down there.

 **Ryuji:** Dude, you guys are making sleep impossible with my phone buzzing non-stop. I'm fine alright, Akira's fine, we're both alive now would you all shut up?

 **Ann:** Ryuji! Why didn't you call right away?!

 **Haru:** I'm glad you're both alright.

 **Yusuke:** Is it wise to stay down there? For once, this mess has nothing to do with us.

 **Makoto:** Aside from a fake Phantom Thieves group…

 **Yusuke:** Even so. Staying in a school where the principal was shot in front of everyone doesn't seem like the wisest course of action. If something's going on…

 **Ann:** Let the authorities handle this. Isn't that what we entrusted to Sae when we shut down the Metaverse?

 **Makoto:** Sis is already in this case…

 **Ann:** See? Why do Ryuji and Akira even need to be there then? Come back to Tokyo!

 **Haru:** What about Morgana?

 **Yusuke:** Point.

 **Ryuji:** Guys. Shut up.

 **Ann:** Is Akira awake yet?

 **Yusuke:** If I remember correctly, he sleeps like the dead.

 **Haru:** Ryuji, why don't you just set your phone to silent?

 **Ann:** What if Akechi did something to him?

 **Makoto:** Last time we saw him, he saved us, remember? Why would he hurt Akira now?

 **Yusuke:** Point.

 **Ann:** He also tried to kill us.

 **Yusuke:** Point.

 **Futaba:** STOP SAYING POINT!

 **Ryuji:** For fucks sake guys!

 **Haru:** Silent mode. Button on side of phone.

 **Akechi:** Are you guys aware I'm still in the group chat?

 **Ann:** …

 **Makoto:** …

 **Yusuke:** Point.

 **Futaba:** I'm gonna smack you.

 **Ryuji:** That's it. I give up. I'm getting up now.

 **Akechi:** Meet us at the cafe near the school for breakfast.

 **Ryuji:** Only if you're buying.

 **Ann:** Is Akira awake yet?

 **Yusuke:** Like the dead…

 **Futaba:** Oy Akechi, did you do anything to him last night?! :(

 **Akechi:** I'm not even going to grace that with an answer.

 **Futaba:** I'll tear your balls off and feed them to you if you've hurt him!

 **Haru:** Futaba-chan!

Akira rubs his eyes and glances at Akechi, who is looking somewhat amused. He shakes his head and taps into the reply button.

 **Akira:** I'm awake.

 **Ryuji:** About time.

 **Ann:** Akira! Are you alright?!

 **Futaba:** Did he do anything to you?

 **Akechi:** I can still read this, you know.

 **Akira:** I'm fine. He just snuggled me last night.

 **Ryuji:** ha ha ha, good one.

 **Futaba:** O_O

 **Yusuke:** What kind of snuggling?

 **Ann:** Why would you ask that?!

 **Yusuke:** Just trying to get an imagery here, was it snuggling like lover snuggling or was it like burrowing for heat?

 **Haru:** Are you painting again?

 **Makoto:** It's too early for this…

 **Ryuji:** Dude I don't need the imagery...I need my appetite.

 **Yusuke:** I'm thinking landscape...no, portrait…

 **Ryuji:** …

 **Futaba:** You could make your own doujinshi.

 **Yusuke:** Point.

 **Futaba:** AGH!

Akira puts his phone down and glances at Akechi, who is just barely hiding his laughter behind his hand. It's interesting because when Akechi laughs on TV during his interviews, it's a lifeless chuckle for the cameras with no real humour. When he was cackling whilst going berserk, it was insanity and chaos. This laugh however. This is honest amusement, light and it makes his shoulders shake with barely contained laughter.

It looks and sounds good on him.

"Let's go," Akechi suggests, suppressing another round of laughter as he gets up onto his feet "We should meet up with Sakamoto and figure out how we're going to handle today."

Akira watches the other and remembers that the only thing that had stopped Akechi last time was that he'd been alone. He hadn't had friends. It had taken all of their combined power to stop him. If Akira had taken him on alone, Akechi would have killed him.

But things are different now and this new look on Akechi, light-hearted and genuinely amused. It looked really good on him and it made Akira's chest do weird things.

He hoped it was just gas.

* * *

"Dude the media is going crazy on this," Ryuji yawns as they settle in a booth. It's early in the morning, the cafe is dimly lit with sunlight coming in through the windows. It's a nice, warm feel and that explains why it's mostly filled with students from the same school.

Apparently, everyone had the same idea.

Akira slides into the booth and makes sure he's on Ryuji's side. He watches Akechi fit into the other side and tries not to make eye contact as he picks up a menu instead.

"My ma was on my case," Ryuji continues, not picking up on Akira's discomfort at all as he throws an arm over the back of the booth seat and leans back "She was sayin' how we probably should go back to Tokyo and _'nothin' like this ever happened there!'_ " he scoffs and flags down the waitress "If only she knew."

Akechi levels him with a doubtful glance and drawls "Yes, I'm sure she'd believe you if you told her everything that happened last year. Be sure to add the bit about the talking cat, she'll love it."

"Dude I wasn't actually gonna tell her anything!" Ryuji protests. The scowl on his face lasts all of two seconds before he grins at the waitress and orders the deluxe breakfast.

Akechi's right eyebrow arches perfectly "Hungry, Sakamoto?"

"Dude, shut up," Ryuji scowls and nudges Akira "Anyway, what did you find out?"

Akira glances at Akechi and feels a familiar twist in his stomach that ultimately tells him he's not going to be very hungry. He orders a coffee instead and Akechi follows suit. When the waitress leaves, Akira pulls his phone out, pulls up the list and hands his phone to Ryuji.

"Thirteen people in total," Akechi says "That's a lot of people to investigate but it stands to reason that it's a good place to start. Sakura can research on their alibis, we just need to talk to them."

"What about people who were present at the assembly and were waiting for that to happen?" Akira points out "Maybe someone wasn't surprised to see the principal shot in the head."

"It's possible, but not the easiest route," Akechi shrugs "Not the fastest either. We're running on limited time and we don't know what's going to happen next."

"It might be a good idea to interview students we can trust too," Ryuji adds "Like Suzui. We don't know exactly what's been going on and she's been a student there for awhile. She might know something."

Akechi feigns surprise "My god, the thug has a brain!"

"Dude, I'm gonna thump you in a minute," Ryuji threatens, his scowl vanishing the second the waitress comes back with their food and drinks.

They wait until she's gone before Akira brings up the important part "We need to think about what happened with Morgana. If this was him taking off on his own, he'd have gone back to my place already."

Akechi nods "The cameras didn't catch him wandering out on his own either, which...really, logically speaking, it actually only means one thing: He left in someone else's bag."

Ryuji looks up from his breakfast, a grain of rice still on his bottom lip "Why would he do that?"

For a moment, Akechi gives him this irritated look and sighs patiently "Well I didn't say he got into it voluntarily. Sakura said that a few students came back for their bags after the shooting. I can understand some of them were in shock and went for their important things but most students would think to run first and come back for their bags later and it's the only opportunity they would have to get Morgana out."

"They'd have had to have known Morgana was in my bag in the first place," Akira points out as he reaches out and swipes the rice grain off Ryuji's lip. The movement causes a flash of anger in Akechi's eyes for just a second before he hides it behind his coffee again.

"They could have heard him meowing," Ryuji shrugs, not at all disturbed as he continues eating "I mean, I did pull the zip over him. He can't have known what was going on and he can't have gotten out on his own."

"Or," Akechi sets his cup down "I could present a more disturbing theory: Whoever took Morgana could have known he was there without even hearing him which means they'd have known exactly who you were, Kurusu."

He levels his eyes on Akira's "Think about it. The leader of the former Phantom Thieves. If you were part of this fake group and you knew about this, you'd take the cat."

Ryuji looks doubtful and Akira frowns. Something's missing from that theory. It's plausible but at the same time the Metaverse is gone. Morgana is about as useful as a normal cat - with the exception being that everyone who was in the Metaverse can hear him speaking in Japanese.

"We could...be dealing with people who were in the Metaverse before we shut it down," Akira says carefully "I mean we have no way to tell that we were the only ones in there and we were only using it for the wider Tokyo area. Anything beyond that...I can assume our actions affected Japan as a whole but the main activities were in Tokyo. If someone was using it from here, it's unlikely we'd have ever bumped into them."

Ryuji jumps and grabs Akira's arm "Dude, do you think the Metaverse is just closed in Tokyo but open here?!"

"The Metaverse is closed to everyone," Akechi points out, his tone irritated again "That means everyone. Japan and worldwide, nobody can get to it after what the Phantom Thieves did."

Ryuji glares "Dude you weren't even there!"

"Oh right," Akechi laughs, this is one of his laughs that sound more irritated than amused "I somehow missed the huge god thing in the sky and that overwhelming show of support from everyone on Shibuya Square. Not to mention the Metaverse bleeding into real life. Nope, missed it all."

"It was the only way to deal with it," Akira points out firmly "And that's not the issue. The issue is that Morgana is gone and we actually don't have any solid ideas on how. If he's been kidnapped, we need to act fast."

"With any luck, the damn cat will find a way to escape," Ryuji deflates and leans back in the booth again "Cats are slippery like that, right?"

Akechi shakes his head but leaves it alone and Akira's head is sorting through what they need to do.

They need to go through the people who were absent, he needs to get Futaba on identifying the students who came back for their bags and they have to find out who is posing as the Phantom Thieves.

All of this in a limited amount of time.

"Ryuji, find Suzui and see what you can get out of her first," he instructs "We'll divide the names of the absent people we need to find."

"That's thirteen divided by three," Akechi points out "I'm better at talking to adults so I'll take the teachers and two students. You two can take four each, that'll cut down time."

"We can meet back here after school," Ryuji suggests as he looks around "This works as a hideout for now."

Akechi's eye twitches "It's not exactly low profile…"

"For lack of time, it works for today at least," Akira agrees "We have to get through all these people as soon as we can. Once the police mop up the incident, it's going to be harder to get information unless we can get hold of Sae. Makoto said she's on this case."

Ryuji winces "That's a lot of things to do."

"We don't have time," Akechi huffs and finishes his coffee "On top of that we have to be normal students. I haven't been a normal student for awhile."

That causes Ryuji to laugh "Enjoy it when the teacher hurls his chalk at your forehead. Hope you're proficient enough to dodge."

Akechi glances at Akira who nods. Akira himself had been whacked in the forehead a couple of times before he learnt how to dodge it.

Ryuji finishes his breakfast and Akira only manages half the coffee. The three of them then get up, pay and head out towards the school.

"I'm gonna hurl," Ryuji complains as they go through the gates "That was too much food."

Akechi rolls his eyes "Why'd you order it then?"

"Because you were paying," Ryuji answers as though Akechi's some sort of idiot "Dude, I wasn't gonna pass that up!"

"You're so mature."

* * *

By some sort of twist of fate (that's the only way Akira can reason with these events) Akechi is placed in their class and put in the desk behind him. The girls respond more with him. Akira hears them sighing and going on about how good he looks before he even takes his seat.

It makes him feel uncomfortable when he catches them looking at Akechi.

Even Kojima is nicer to him than she ever was to Akira and Ryuji.

"Dude that's so not fair," Ryuji complains when they get a break "Did you see Kojima-sensei? Going all goo-goo eyed on Akechi."

"Maybe we should spend less time worrying about that and more time focussing on finding people," Akechi drawls "Do you have your names?"

Ryuji nods to Suzui, who is sitting alone at her desk, back hunched over her homework "I'll talk to her first," he says "Track down the others at lunch."

He walks over to her and Akechi pulls his phone out to look over his list of names. He sighs "I'll start with the teachers."

He wanders out of the room and Akira notices the girls watching him leave.

 _'Isn't he cute?'_

 _'I feel like I've seen him somewhere before…'_

 _'Me too! I wonder where…'_

 _'He's cute enough to be an idol! Do you think he could be in Arashi?'_

Ignoring them, Akira heads back to his desk and pulls out his phone.

 **Akira:** Futaba.

 **Futaba:** Here. What do you need?

 **Akira:** You said you saw people going back in the class after the shooting for their bags, right?

 **Futaba:** Yeah, they were panicked.

 **Akira:** Can you ID them? One of them might have taken Morgana.

 **Futaba** :...that's a thought. I'll get you some names by this afternoon.

He looks up and sees Ryuji sitting next to Shiho and talking to her quietly. The girls sitting near Akira are still going on about Akechi and Akira tries to ignore the twinge of discomfort it causes him.

Maybe he's just hungry.

At lunch break, the three of them split up to find the students they're to interview. Akira tracks two of them down in the courtyard and when he asks why they weren't there yesterday, one says he was sick and the other bluntly states he was smoking in the bathroom. The girl Akira finds near the gymnasium says she had a leg injury and stayed home that day and the boy he finds on the rooftop happily explains that he was losing his virginity to his college girlfriend.

Futaba could probably find their alibi's fairly easily and that rules them off the list but it doesn't make this search any easier.

He comes back to the classroom to find Ryuji already sitting at his desk. Akira puts his phone down and flops into his chair.

"Dude, how'd you do?" Ryuji asks, he looks tired.

"Absent for various reasons but all plausible," Akira shrugs "You?"

"The kids at this school have no stamina. I asked one kid why he was off and he coughed in my face and said he had a flu. No shit man." Ryuji rubs at his face again "If I come down with something, I'm gonna kill him."

Akechi comes back and takes a seat at his desk. He huffs "Nothing. They're all sick or bunking. The teachers who weren't there said they had a conference."

"I'll have Futaba check their excuses anyway," Akira says "What about Suzui?"

Ryuji suddenly looks uncomfortable and he shakes his head "She told me some pretty messed up stuff. Last week there was a suicide here. Some kid jumped off the roof. Apparently the week before that, a teacher was fired for lashing out on some student. The kid didn't even do anything but he beat the shit out of him before the other teachers came to stop him. When they asked him why he did it, he said he couldn't remember."

Akira exchanges an uneasy glance with Akechi. That sounds an awful lot like what was going on when the Metaverse was still open.

"That doesn't make any sense," Akechi points out "If the Metaverse was still open, we'd know. Morgana would have known. Whatever's going on...it's not cognitive."

Ryuji shrugs "Sounds like Metaverse shit to me. There might be other ways to get people to behave like that though."

Akira knows there are but usually the people behind causing these things are far more powerful. That makes exposing and taking them down much harder.

"Ah, there's something else too," Ryuji pulls a blue card from his pocket and flicks it onto Akira's desk "That was given to the people who were targeted. The ones who tried to suicide, the ones who lashed out, they got those right before it happened."

It's a calling card. It's almost identical to the ones the Phantom Thieves used, logo and all. Only this time, the card is blue, not red. But the wording, the style, it's identical.

Akechi hums "So...what? Phantom Thieves 2?"

"These guys aren't even on the same level as the real Phantom Thieves," Ryuji growls "They're posers using our name to do their dirty shit. We gotta stop them."

Akira flicks the card around in his fingers and shakes his head.

"No," Akechi snaps, as if reading his mind "It's not possible. It's not even probable. After everything that happened, the Metaverse is not open. It can't be."

Akira checks his phone and sure enough, that app is gone. There's nothing that can let him into the Metaverse but he can't help but consider that possibility. If it is open and they can't get into it, there has to be something, some explanation.

The bell rings and Ryuji gets up to return to his desk. Akira glances back at Akechi who still shakes his head.

"It's not possible," Akechi tells him. Akira isn't completely convinced.

* * *

The three of them return to the cafe after school and somehow manage to snag a quiet booth in the corner. They order drinks and Akira calls Futaba before putting her on speaker and setting his phone in the middle of the table.

"I ran a check on everyone," Futaba says "There was a teachers conference yesterday. That covered two of the three teachers that were absent yesterday."

Akechi frowns "Two?"

"Yes. One of them didn't go. I have airport footage of two of them going, but the third isn't present. His name was booked on the flight as well, he didn't get there," Futaba explains "Just to be thorough, I also ran a check on the students and all of them were where they said they were. The ones who were sick at home were covered by their own parents."

Ryuji chokes on his drink "You called their parents?!"

"It was easy, with investigations going on all I had to do was say I was a detective," Futaba huffs "Keep up. Anyway. The ones who weren't at home were covered by the people they were with. Like that guy who said he was with his college girlfriend, there's actually footage of him going into her room and coming back out ten hours later so it couldn't have been him either."

"Then our only lead is the teacher who was supposed to be at the conference," Akechi hums "But I talked to all three of them and they all said they'd been there. Which one was lying?"

"Guy named Minagawa Shion," Futaba says.

Ryuji frowns "Isn't that our history teacher?"

"He was a historian, an archaeologist before he became a teacher so that makes sense I guess," Futaba explains, something shuffles in the background "Anyway, he was supposed to be there but he never made the flight."

"Could he have gotten there some other way?" Akira asks "Maybe he overslept and missed the flight. In that case, he could have used a train or something."

"I'd have noticed," Futaba says "Besides, the conference was in Okinawa. He needed a plane. No flight afterwards has his name either, he stayed in Tokyo."

Akira glances at Akechi, who nods "Could be our guy."

"Any progress on Morgana?" Akira asks "Those kids who came back for their bags."

"There were three of them," Futaba says "And they're all in your class. Amano Kazuya, Nagase Sora and Ishida Hikaru. If Morgana was kidnapped, it could have only been by one of them."

Ryuji looks up and Akira can tell he's trying to place the name to faces but they've only been in that class for two days and it wasn't nearly enough time to get to know people, much less learn their names.

Akechi sighs heavily "The guy who sits in front of you, Sakamoto, that's Amano. Nagase is near the door and Ishida is at the front nearest the window. Do you two notice nothing?"

"Shut up Akechi," Ryuji grumbles and leans back with his drink "So what's the plan? Do we bang some heads today or wait for tomorrow?'

"Tomorrow is Sunday, chances of finding them are small," Akechi eyes Ryuji like he can't believe someone is this stupid, he turns to the phone "Any chance one of them is in a club and could still be on campus?"

"I can do better than that," Futaba promises and they can hear her fingers flying on the keyboard already "A quick look in the school security cameras will tell me where they are if they're still on campus."

Akira taps his fingers on his cup and tries to think. They have some leads now but it would be much easier if they had the use of the Metaverse. There lies that possibility - although Akechi says its impossible - that it's still there.

It makes sense to doubt the certainty that it's gone. After all, things like cognitive worlds, distorted castles and Mementos hadn't even been a reality before he'd gone to Tokyo. Soon after he'd been swept up in those worlds simply because something had chosen him and Akechi. Although the final battle had seemed epic and like it really could end everything, Akira still learnt to doubt.

"We're in luck!" Futaba announces gleefully "All three of them are still on campus. Nagase is in the baseball club in the back field. Amano is in the library and Ishida is in the student newspaper room."

"Let's split up," Ryuji suggests as he quickly finishes his drink and tosses it into the bin "One of them might have Morgana and we gotta catch them before they go home."

"What about Minagawa?" Akira asks "What should we do with him?"

"Approaching him may be dangerous if he is actually part of this new group," Futaba says, her fingers still tapping loudly on the keyboard "Give me some time to dig up everything I can on him before I let you guys confront him. In the meantime, catch those students."

She hangs up and Akira slips his phone back into his pocket before sliding out of the booth with the others. It turns out, Ryuji's choice for a hangout wasn't too bad. The cafe wasn't that crowded in the afternoon and it was comfortably close to the school campus so they could just walk back.

"I'll take Nagase," Ryuji volunteers as they walk back through the school gates.

"I've got Amano," Akechi says "Kurusu, you take Ishida. We'll meet back here afterwards."

When they walk back through the doors, Ryuji takes off for the backfields immediately. Akira is about to head for the stairs when Akechi grabs his arm and pulls him in.

Akechi's eyes are serious and it makes something in Akira's chest thud, hard, when he feels the almost iron tight grip that Akechi has on his arm.

"Be careful," Akechi advises him quietly "If we're going up against a group that are not only using the name of the Phantom Thieves but also publicly executing people, we have to be careful. Now more than ever. We don't have the Metaverse to back us up this time."

Akira ignores the way his heart skips a beat, or the heat coming off the other and swallows hard.

"Are you sure?" he questions and his tone gives him away. He can't be sure of anything right now. It's only the second day and all this shit is happening, the Metaverse coming back into play would not surprise him.

Akechi's eyes are dark and firm "It's gone," he tells him "It has to be."

Akira senses a slight feel of desperation coming off the other. Like it's not just that he firmly believes the Metaverse is gone, he doesn't want the Metaverse to come back and in a way, Akira can understand. Akechi could invoke some powerful Personas there, but ultimately that power and his goal behind it had been what had driven him mad. It was what had put them on opposite sides of the field.

"I'll be careful," Akira promises and he manages a small smile before he gently shakes Akechi off and heads for the stairs.

He feels Akechi's eyes on his back the whole way.

Akira eventually locates the student newspaper room on the third floor near the student council room. This school is not unlike Shujin Academy with it's identical hallways and occasional lagging student who hangs in the hallway until someone tells them to go home.

Approaching the door, Akira reaches for the knob before he notices the door is already slightly ajar. His curiosity gets the better of him as he peeks inside instead. Through the slit of the door, he can see three tables, two of which have so much paper strewn about in every direction. The third table has a computer and a boy with very light brown hair sitting hunched over the keyboard.

He's tiny. Ishida Hikaru looks more like a first year. He has rectangular glasses, his hair looks like he'd stuck a fork in an electrical outlet. It sticks out in all directions and it seems to have been done so deliberately. His uniform is about one size too big for him and Akira can see he's wearing red sneakers instead of school shoes.

Ishida types quietly for a moment before he looks up, checks the room and digs his bag out from under his table. Akira waits and watches as he places the bag on his lap and slowly opens it.

Morgana's head immediately pokes out.

"I can't breathe in there!" Morgana screeches at him "What on earth are you-!"

"Shh!" Ishida hisses desperately. He looks around again and Akira presses himself closer to the wall to avoid being seen.

"The hell I'll be quiet!" Morgana yells at him "You've kept me in that bag for a whole day now, who are you?!"

"All will be explained soon," Ishida says quietly as he takes Morgana out by the neck "Just take me to the Metaverse."

Akira pulls his phone out and quickly shoots a message to Akechi and Ryuji.

'It's Ishida. Third floor. Hurry.'

Morgana glares at Ishida "The Metaverse is GONE. How stupid can you get?! Who are you? How do you even know about the Metaverse?!"

Ishida's eyes widen and an indignant look appears on his face "The Metaverse isn't gone!"

"Yes it is!" Morgana hisses, swiping his paws futilely in the air "We made sure of that!"

"It can't be gone! I was just in there yesterday, look!" Ishida exclaims and pulls up his phone.

Akira recognises the app right away. It's a red glowing eye. It's the Metaverse.

Morgana doesn't say anything, he wriggles and tries to get away but Ishida holds him close and presses the app button.

"Look, see!" he shouts desperately "Minagawa. School. Excavation site!"

"Don't!" Morgana screams but it's too late, reality is already distorting. Akira feels a wave of nausea rush through him as his surroundings shift and warp. He holds onto the wall, he doesn't have a choice and he knows whats happening. This is far too familiar.

Akira closes his eyes for just a moment and when he opens them, the school is gone.

A hot breeze hits Akira's face and when he opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is sand. There's sand everywhere. He's in the middle of a desert and in the distance he can see what appears to be man made squares set into the sand. Each square has holes, jewels and bones stick out from the sand and there are shovels everywhere.

Akira looks around, he's still wearing his uniform which means he's not a threat here. Not yet anyway. Not too far from him, he spots Ishida in his uniform but Morgana has transformed into the thief cat he once was.

Morgana twists until Ishida drops him into the sand.

"What did you do?!" Morgana demands "Where are we?!"

"I told you, we're in the Metaverse," Ishida tells him "I told you it wasn't gone!"

"Then why did you kidnap me to get in here if you could already get in here yourself?!" Morgana snaps at him "What is wrong with you?!"

Ishida's previous desperation vanishes and he shrinks a little "I just...a Phantom Thief needs the cat otherwise it's not the real one!"

Morgana stares at him with wide eyes and waves his paws in the air in exasperation "Are you insane?! Do you even know the first thing about being a Phantom Thief?!"

"You could teach me?" Ishida points out hopefully.

"NOT GONNA HAPPEN!" Morgana screams and Akira walks over to them.

When Morgana sees him, he jumps at him right away.

"Joker!" Morgana nearly cries with joy "I'm so happy to see you! I've been stuck in his bag all night! Ever since he took me out of yours!"

Ishida looks at Akira with wide eyes and takes a precautionary step back "Oh," he pales "You're…"

"How do you know about Morgana?" Akira asks and gestures around himself "How did you know about this place?"

"I...I…" Ishida pulls his phone out and shows it to Akira "That app. It just showed up on my phone awhile ago. I didn't know how to use it for the longest time and then I heard about the Phantom Thieves in Tokyo and I thought they were SO COOL," he gushes. The force of his fanboying is actually alarming because his eyes get wide and he can't seem to contain himself "So I did ALL the research, I tracked Mishima down and we had a really, really long chat about you."

"Mishima…" Morgana growls as he settles himself on Akira's shoulder.

"Then I heard you - the real Phantom Thief - was coming back home and to my school AND to my class! It had to be fate!" Ishida gushes.

"So...what?" Akira blinks "You steal Morgana and try to be me?"

"Yeah!" Ishida chirps happily as if he hasn't committed some form of creepy crime to get this far "Cool isn't it!"

Akira can already imagine Ryuji tearing this kid a new one if he could hear this. He glances around the desert and frowns "Minagawa…."

"Yeah, Minagawa-sensei has a...I don't know what you call it but this is his," Ishida explains.

"A distorted heart has a castle," Morgana explains "If we got here using Minagawa's name, it means he thinks of the school as his own excavation site. Though I don't know how that works…at least with Kamoshida it was pretty straightforward."

"I thought the Metaverse was gone," Akira breathes "After everything we did, I thought that was going to be it."

"I thought so too," Morgana mutters and turns back to Ishida "So? What's your aim? I hope you know you can't just go into a castle unarmed like you are. You're gonna get killed."

"Well that was why I wanted you," Ishida points to Morgana "You trained him right? That means you're the brains behind the Phantom Thieves!"

As creepy as this kid is, Akira can practically feel the heat of warmth radiating off Morgana at being praised. He's really easy to win over.

"The principal was shot yesterday," Akira explains to Ishida "In front of everyone."

"I know," Ishida shrugs harmlessly.

"Only a complete moron would go back for their backpack after that," Akira scolds "What if they'd attacked you too? Or Morgana? You put him in danger too."

Ishida pouts "But they didn't! They wouldn't either, those attacks are different."

"How?" Akira asks "From what I understand, there is a fake Phantom Thieves running around Shinsou Academy and they're probably responsible for the suicides and assaults. Am I wrong?"

"No, you're right," Ishida nods easily "These Phantom Thieves give your group a really bad name. I don't know what their goal is but they've been terrorising the school. The principal got a calling card the morning of the shooting, which meant he was the only one in danger of being attacked."

This kid is a moron.

Akira sighs and glances at Morgana, who's deep in thought on his shoulder.

"There's more going on and we need to get to the bottom of it," Morgana says "News of a fake Phantom Thieves is disturbing but if this Minagawa has a castle, it means his desires are distorted enough to get this bad. We need to look into this. If the fake group can get into the Metaverse, we'll no doubt bump into them at some point."

"Great!" Ishida gushes "Can I join? Obviously, since I have the app I must have the potential, right?"

Morgana growls but unfortunately Ishida has a point. That app doesn't just appear on anyone's phone. There has to be a reason. Akira wonders if he's going to get a visit from Igor and Lavenza soon.

"We'll think about it, kid," Morgana promises reluctantly "In the meantime, we better get out of here. We're not safe and we need our group."

That's it then. They have to call in the others.

Akira checks his phone and sure enough, the app is back. It's glowing red and pushing the surrounding apps out of the way as it had done before.

"Come on, kid," Morgana says to Ishida "If you're going to be a Phantom Thief, I'm going to make sure you're one that doesn't get the rest of us killed."

Ishida's ecstatic face is the last thing Akira sees before the Metaverse warps and slides them back into reality.


	3. Chapter 3

**4/17 - Sunday**

Akira recognises the music before he fully realises where he is. That lofty feeling of floating on air, the strange space in between dreams and wakefulness, he knows exactly where he is before he even opens his eyes.

His body is exhausted. His limbs protest and weigh him down even as he sits up and opens his heavy eyes to look around.

It appears to be some sort of living room. Complete with loungers, chairs, a coffee table, plants and a desk. But it's dark. The only lights are dim and come from candles. One on the desk, illuminating a long nose Akira could never forget, the other being held by a girl who kneels beside the couch he'd been sleeping on. Her large eyes are wide and concerned, her long blonde hair is straight and glints even in the dim light and her thick, hardback book sits on the coffee table.

Lavenza.

"So, you are awake," Igor hums and drums his fingers as he leans on the desk "Welcome back."

Akira's head aches and he can't focus. Even the Velvet Room now is blurring and dimming out of his focus.

He feels a light hand on his shoulder as Lavenza's concerned eyes appear closer to him.

"Don't strain yourself," she advises in that soft, eerie voice of hers "Your body is not used to being in the Metaverse as it has been some time. Furthermore, after how it ended last time…"

"I don't understand," Akira says, his voice coming out closer to a whisper "I thought it was over."

"It should have been over," Igor explains calmly "Your actions did not just 'close' the Metaverse as some of your companions seem to think. That final battle caused the 'collapse' of the Metaverse, it should have finished there."

Akira shakes his head. Clearly that's not the case as the Metaverse is here, alive and kicking. Complete with castles and he doesn't even want to think about Mementos.

"The only thing that could bring back the Metaverse would be a being more powerful than the Metaverse itself," Lavenza adds and Akira picks up on the slight panic in her tone. He knows why as well. Last time they'd been up against a god, a huge being in the sky who nearly tore the world apart with his desire to control everyone and everything. It had taken a colossal amount of power to take him down and Akira already knows he doesn't have that power anymore.

Arsene disappeared when the Metaverse did.

Something more powerful than a god. More powerful than the pain in the ass that Yaldabaoth had been. It hurts Akira's head to think about it and he can't even begin to think of where he'd find such a being.

"However this is disturbing," Igor speaks in a tone that doesn't give away how disturbed he probably is "The current state of events are chaotic, unplanned and will eventually lead to catastrophe. I'm afraid we will have to enter another deal."

Akira takes a deep breath but this isn't something he's going to refuse. No matter how tired he is, or how annoying it is to think that this is going to happen again, he can't walk away from it. Especially when he has the power to avoid whatever ruin is coming their way. Something more powerful has recreated the Metaverse.

That just means something more powerful is about to get its ass kicked.

"We will guide you through this," Lavenza promises gently "You've proven your worth as a Trickster already. It will be our duty to aid you in your quest."

"Of course, no such deal can be made yet," Igor states "Not until he gets here."

Akira looks up. In the dim lighting of the Velvet Room, he realises he'd been sleeping on a couch. It's one of two. The other sits on the opposite side of the coffee table, untouched and pristine with cushions placed on the left side. They're almost identical, cream in colour with enough space to fit three people sitting (or one person sleeping evidently). The couch Akira woke up on had red cushions. The other has blue.

"Now then," Lavenza says, a tone of finality in her voice as she stands up again and looks at him "Your time with us has come to an end for now. We will see you next, when he gets here."

Akira's too exhausted to figure out who they're talking about. His limbs feel heavy even as he lays back down again and rests his head on the crimson cushions. Falling asleep is as fast as closing his eyes.

* * *

He wakes up to the sound of arguing. Ryuji's voice pierces his subconscious mind a lot faster as he opens his eyes and groans at the intrusive sunlight coming in through the windows.

He sits up and recognises Ryuji's bedroom right away. It's pretty distinctive. Just like Ryuji has his own style, so too does his bedroom and it doesn't seem to matter that he'd just moved from Tokyo. It's like everything just followed him and established itself there as if he'd never moved.

Ryuji's bedroom is pretty small. One single bed with a Red Ranger duvet and an extra futon tucked under the bed. His desk has a lot of mini figurines from various anime and NHK capsule toys. His textbooks are arranged messily on the floor beside the desk and the ones at the bottom are so ignored there's dust on them. His bag sits near the door and his wardrobe has open drawers with sleeves and pant legs sticking out. The only thing that's actually tidy is his old uniform from Shujin. Folded neatly in the top drawer, like a reminder. His new uniform hangs off the side of the wardrobe with the coat hanger clinging just barely to the corner.

The only window in the room looks over the neighbourhood from the second floor and the door is ajar so Akira can hear Ryuji's raised voice. Someone pissed him off.

Akira's limbs don't feel quite so heavy as he gets up and whilst his head is a little fuzzy, it's nothing he can't handle as he gets up and heads out into the narrow hallway that leads to the stairs, where Ryuji's voice is louder and joined by Morgana.

"-no fucking way!" Ryuji yells "Are you insane?! Why did we even bring this kid back?!"

"He has the app!" Morgana argues as Akira comes down the stairs to see them in the living room "The Metaverse is alive again and if there's any hope-"

"You think HE is our hope?!" Ryuji splutters, pointing to Ishida who is sitting on the couch watching them both in equal parts fear and fascination.

"He's as good as we got right now!" Morgana screams "He's the only link we have right now!"

Ryuji opens his mouth to say something else when he notices Akira at the door. His eyes switch from angry to deeply apologetic and surprised at once.

"Shit man," he says, coming up to Akira's side "Sorry! Did we wake you?"

Akira shakes his head. It's a lie but Ryuji looks like he feels bad enough. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and looks at them. Morgana is standing on the coffee table, Ishida is on the couch and Ryuji hovers near him.

"Akechi?" he asks.

"He went outside for some air," Ryuji shrugs and sticks his hands in his pockets to stop himself fidgeting "We called the others. Yusuke and Ann are on their way here now, Futaba says she's more useful in Tokyo for the time being and Makoto and Haru can't get here until tomorrow. They've got entrance ceremonies to deal with."

Morgana hops off the coffee table and settles himself on the armrest next to Ishida. He licks his paw and hums "It must be difficult. Their lives are in Tokyo, I'm not sure we can call them to help us with this."

Akira glances down the hallway to the backdoor. It's glass and he can see Akechi sitting on the garden chair near the tiny garden Ryuji's mother keeps. He recognises Akechi's dejected form immediately and turns back to the others.

"Yeah," Morgana says, noticing where Akira's concern had gone "He's been out there ever since we told him the Metaverse was up again."

"It's been hours but I can't get him to come in," Ryuji folds his arms and shoots Akira a look "We found you yesterday. After you came out of...wherever you were with Morgana and that shit there," he nods to Ishida who shrinks in the couch "You kind of collapsed and we couldn't wake you up so I brought you here. Morgana told us what happened with the castle, we filled him in on the shooting."

"I can't believe you ran back into the school for your bag after the shooting!" Morgana scolds Akira "Are you an idiot?"

"Hey, if you hadn't gone and gotten yourself kidnapped, the police wouldn't have arrested Akira when they did!" Ryuji snaps, irritated.

"That wasn't my fault!" Morgana screeches.

"I'm sorry about the kidnapping!" Ishida says as if he's said it a million times already "But isn't it better I got you out of there? You could have been in real danger if I'd left you there. What if the killer had come back?"

Morgana glares at him "You said he wasn't likely to anyway, that's why you went back for your bag and me!"

Ishida folds his arms and Ryuji makes this noise like he really can't be assed dealing with this. He's been dealing with it all night.

"When are the others getting here?" Akira finally asks. They'll have to deal with Ishida eventually, but not on their own. This is something the whole group has to deal with.

Ryuji checks the clock on the wall "Shouldn't be long now, I called them last night."

Akira nods and glances at the back door again. Akechi hasn't moved. He doesn't seem to have noticed anything going on in the house either, his back is facing the door.

"Maybe you should talk to him," Ryuji suggests reluctantly "He won't listen to me."

Morgana doesn't say anything. He continues cleaning himself and Ishida eyes him curiously.

"For a thing that says it's not a cat, you have some interesting cat habits," he points out "If you were human, would you really lick yourself clean like that?"

"Right!?" Ryuji agrees immediately and it's very different to the annoyance he'd been showing Ishida before. This is almost friendly. "He's totally a cat, right?!"

"I'm not a cat!" Morgana protests and Akira decides to leave them be.

He heads towards the backdoor instead and opens the glass door. It creaks as he comes outside to the cooling air and Akechi looks up from where he'd been sitting. He watches Akira close the door again and turns his gaze back to the garden.

"Sakamoto's mother is growing tomatoes," he states blandly "If she doesn't harvest them soon though, they're going to shrivel up and die."

Akira sits down on the wooden veranda and looks at the garden. It's small, just barely enough space to grow a couple of vegetables. Haru would probably appreciate it though.

He turns his gaze to Akechi and recognises the troubled look on the other. Ever since he came back, Akechi hasn't bothered being his fake self with them. Not really. When he first met them, he'd been courteous, polite, even idol-like. His fake mask had completely covered his true nature and most of Japan had been fooled.

But Akira and the Phantom Thieves have already seen him lose it. They've already seen the other side of him and it's dark. It's merciless and even cruel, desperate for acceptance, a place in the world. It reveals the true extent of his loneliness and madness and he hasn't made any effort to disguise that from them.

The only time he shows that fake side of himself is when he's talking to strangers, which was how he managed to charm the entire class, including Kojima, into loving him.

Strange that they can all love him, they can all want him and yet their love and acceptance is not the kind that Akechi really needs. He's scarred by what both his parents had done to him and although he doesn't go around showing his scars to everyone, they're there. Subtle, silent. Like a broken vase that's been glued together, the cracks show under harsh light of scrutiny and reveal that although he's picked himself up again, he's never going to be completely alright.

He'd been so certain that the Metaverse was gone. Or perhaps it was that he'd been desperately hoping the Metaverse was gone.

"Morgana told me," Akechi says, his hands not quite still where they're perched on his lap. If they want to shake, he's stopping them through sheer force of will. "The Metaverse is…" he pauses "...alive."

It's probably the right wording as one can't really say it was ever 'closed'. It wasn't closed, it had collapsed. It had been destroyed. It wasn't like someone had closed the door, they'd demolished the whole damn building and now it was back and nobody could make sense of it.

Akira doesn't say anything. He senses that Akechi doesn't need him to. Whatever's going on in his head, Akechi will let it out if he has to. Everything else, he'll keep silent. He's a lot like Akira in that he won't tell people things he doesn't need to. The fact that Akechi hadn't said anything to Morgana or Ryuji tells Akira that he'd been waiting for him.

"I can't do this," Akechi admits quietly "I can't go back in there and you shouldn't let me. You should have killed me back there, I would have."

But Akira didn't and he knows why. He has more faith in Akechi than the boy himself does.

"How can you trust me?" Akechi questions, finally lifting his eyes from the tomatoes to Akira instead. His dark eyes are curious and Akira suspects only he can catch the torment in them. "After what I did."

Akira holds his gaze with his own, firm and resolved. This is probably the one matter in which he'll never falter, his convictions regarding this are strong.

"You're not the same person you were before," Akira reminds him "The person you were before doesn't exist anymore."

Akechi doesn't look like he believes him but he looks like he wants to. He huffs and shakes his head "I need to take up smoking," he mutters darkly and turns his eyes back to the tomatoes. As if looking at vegetables is easier than dealing with the strong resolve in Akira's eyes.

"Everyone in your group, they joined the Phantom Thieves out of circumstance and a resolve to fix the wrong happening to them," Akechi continues "Sakamoto, when he saw the torture the volleyball students were going through, created a deal with his persona out of a strong need to stand up against Kamoshida. Takamaki was the same, after witnessing Kamoshida's abuse and the consequences on her friend and herself, she turned to her persona and grew powerful for it. Kitagawa had no choice but to take down Madarame after he learnt what the other had done to him, Nijima had to fight back against Kaneshiro when he threatened her very life. Sakura had her own demons with her mother and finally Okumura was determined to save her father. There was always a reason and those goals aligned with your own...what are mine?"

Akechi picks at his pant leg and frowns "Why should I join the Phantom Thieves?"

"Because I need you," Akira says and the answer came out of him before he even had time to think about it. He knows it was the truth but possibly too much truth.

Indeed, the blunt confession makes Akechi's head snap up from the tomatoes. He stares at Akira and it's hard to tell what he's thinking for once.

Ann's voice breaks the moment and Akira looks up to see her in the house. She and Yusuke come in through the front door and she starts telling Ryuji about how there are no trains in this town, only busses and it's nothing like Tokyo and they had to walk all the way here and her feet hurt.

"Where's Akira?" Ann asks as she disappears into the living room with Ryuji and Yusuke.

"Better go in," Akechi advises and there's something missing in his tone. Like he's disappointed, like he'd wanted to say something.

Akira nods and gets up onto his feet. He dusts himself down and heads back inside where Ann immediately bowls him over in a hug the second he walks into the living room. Over her shoulder, Akira can see Yusuke eyeing Ishida warily.

Ann pulls back, her big blue eyes are glittering with happy tears and the smile on her beautiful face is as bright as ever. From her blonde pigtails to her red sneakers, she hasn't changed a bit.

"I've missed you so much!" she says as she drags Akira in to sit down with her on the couch "They put this new guy in your desk and it just doesn't feel the same."

Akira can't help the grin that naturally appears on his face and he shakes his head as Morgana hops away from Ishida and jumps up onto Ann's lap.

"Lady Ann!" he purrs "I've missed you."

"This town is a veritable canvas," Yusuke states, impressed "A stark difference from the loud and crowded Tokyo. It presents a very different way of life."

"Dude, it's still Japan," Ryuji folds his arms "And anyway, now that most of us are here - and I'm pretty sure Haru, Makoto and Futaba will side with whatever we decide - we oughta figure out what to do with this guy."

He nods to Ishida who sits up and smiles at both Ann and Yusuke.

"I'm Ishida Hikaru," he introduces himself. Akira can catch the barely restrained excitement in his eyes as he realises he's in a room with the founders of the Phantom Thieves "I can't believe I'm finally meeting you guys!"

Ann doesn't look like she knows quite what to say to that but Yusuke studies Ishida closely, pulls back and hums as if he's made a discovery "It's Mishima part two," he states, causing Ryuji to crack up laughing.

"Right?! You saw it too!" he chirps happily and throws his arm around Yusuke's shoulders. Maybe he'll never say it, but Akira knows Ryuji actually missed Yusuke and Ann.

"More to the point," Ann cuts in with a semi-scolding look at Ishida "What were you thinking? Kidnapping Morgana, do you know how worried we were?!"

Morgana beams, his eyes sparkling up at Ann from where he sits on her lap.

"You were?" he squeaks happily.

Ishida looks appropriately apologetic and bows a little where he sits "I'm sorry," he mumbles "It's just...you guys are all so cool. I idolise you, I have all the Phantom Thief goods that were ever sold, I never stopped believing in you. I even signed in to different computers just so I could vote again on the Phan-site to say I still believed in you."

Ann doesn't know whether to be flattered or creeped out. She glances at Ryuji, who raises an eyebrow at Ishida.

"Dude," he mutters.

"Now to be in a room with the actual thieves…" Ishida sighs happily and turns to Akira "You. I idolised you the most. I didn't find out until really recently who you were though, Mishima wouldn't tell me anything until he knew he could trust me as a fellow fan."

"Mishima…" Ryuji scowls under his breath.

"The real point is that he has the Metaverse app on his phone," Morgana explains with a pointed look at Ishida "Nevermind that we don't know how the Metaverse is still there, he has the app and can get in. He has already discovered a castle."

"I'm more concerned with the Metaverse being there again," Yusuke cuts in with a frown, he folds his arms "We destroyed it. We saw it disappear."

"I know and we don't have answers to that," Morgana sighs "I really wish we did, but I can't explain it. I didn't even know about it until Ishida took me there."

Akira thinks about Lavenza and Igor. He can't say anything. It's not that his friends don't remember them - they probably do - but not even Lavenza and Igor had the answers this time. All they seemed to know was that something bad was going to happen and that the Metaverse's very existence meant that someone...something very powerful had brought it back.

Something more powerful than Yaldabaoth. He can't tell them that. He's barely coming to terms with it himself.

"If there's a castle here then we can work out the details later," Ann says in her usual optimistic way "We can't ignore it. Not when we're the ones who can stop it. If this guy has a castle, it means he's hurting others."

"True," Ryuji agrees "There's also the problem of the other Phantom Thieves. The fake ones."

"Unforgivable," Yusuke mutters darkly "Something must be done about them."

"Then there's…" Morgana turns to Ishida "If he has the app, it means he has the potential but he has yet to turn into a full thief himself. We can't ignore him, he has the ability to go in with or without us and if he goes in without us - he's going to get himself killed."

"Pain in the ass," Ryuji winces and shakes his head "But fine. Kid can come along with us.'

Yusuke looks at Ryuji "Is that his codename?"

"You guys use CODENAMES!?" Ishida's eyes grow so wide it's a wonder they're still in his head "REALLY?! DO I GET ONE? CAN I CHOOSE IT? I WANNA BE ROBIN!"

Ryuji shoots Akira a suffering look but says nothing. Instead he huffs and shakes his head "Anyway, I'm starving. Akira hasn't been awake that long but he hasn't eaten since lunch yesterday so...let's go out to eat."

"I wonder if the food here is any different…" Yusuke hums.

"We're still in Japan," Ryuji reminds him dryly. He turns to Akira "Any luck with uh…" he nods to the back door where Akechi is still in the garden.

"Give him time," Akira advises.

Ryuji hums "He doesn't look like he's up to going anywhere. I'll take Yusuke with me and get some food to bring back here."

"Ooh!" Morgana perks up "Sushi! Bring back some sushi!"

"Dude, I'm not that rich," Ryuji complains.

Ann gets up to settle the money issue and as they do, Akira looks at Ishida. He reminds him a lot of Mishima and unlike Akechi - where his kind, smiling face was a flat out lie - Ishida doesn't let off that sort of vibe at all. Instead he's pretty shallow. What they see there is essentially what he is. A raving fan of the Phantom Thieves, especially of Akira himself. There might be more to him later but for now, that's pretty much him and Akira knows there's nothing suspicious about him. He's not like Akechi and he's not desperate for acknowledgement like Mishima. Instead he's naive and almost childish despite being in the same year.

"Okay," Ann sighs, handing money to Ryuji and shooing him off to the door "Go find some food then, I'm going to talk to Akechi."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Ryuji frowns "No offense but since he's come back, he seems to have only warmed up to our leader. If Akira can't get him to come back inside, then what chance do you-"

"Never underestimate my acting and charm," Ann winks at him with a flick of her blonde hair "I'll get him inside."

Yusuke raises a single eyebrow but says nothing as he nods to Ryuji and heads out. Ryuji shoots one last worried look at Ann but walks out as well. Akira watches as Ann beams and heads to the backdoor with a skip in her step. She approaches Akechi and Akira hums to himself.

If her acting and charm is anything like the shit she pulled on Yusuke when she was trying to charm him into Madarame's locked room, they might have to think of a Plan C.

* * *

Ryuji lifts his hands in the air and stretches his arms with a long, loud groan. The warmth of the sun is welcome and so is the light breeze.

It's strange. He had to get used to it here after living all his life in Tokyo. He's used to busy streets, crowded train rides and at least one transfer to school but over here it's not the same. Yes, it's still Japan but it's totally different being in a smaller town. He walks everywhere, the shops actually have closing times, there's not much of a nightlife. It makes Yongenjaya look lively.

He feels Yusuke's eyes on him as he steps out onto the footpath and starts walking to the nearest supermarket.

"I hate being cooped up," he feels the need to explain "The fresh air is so good too, I was going crazy in there with that Ishida kid."

Yusuke chuckles softly and shakes his head, silky blue hair tousling slightly from the breeze "He did seem to annoy you. Imitation is supposed to be the highest form of flattery."

"That's bullshit and you know it," Ryuji mutters with a side glance at Yusuke "Besides, it's not me he's copying, it's our leader. If he comes back tomorrow with a different pair of glasses and curly black hair, that's when we're kicking him out."

"Agreed," Yusuke hums and it's the best thing Ryuji's heard all morning. Everyone's gone crazy with ideas of keeping Ishida in the group - all because some app chose him - but the truth is that Ryuji isn't comfortable with that kid. No matter how harmless he appears and he isn't happy with Morgana pushing the idea that Ishida has to stay.

Yusuke is the first person to vocally agree with him, even Akechi didn't say anything - though he didn't stick around once he learnt the Metaverse was back.

"So," Ryuji hums and sticks his hands in his pockets, he shoots Yusuke a grin over his shoulder "Do ya miss me? Tokyo can't be the same without me!"

Yusuke falters for just a moment and Ryuji doesn't catch it, the way Yusuke's honest emotions appear in his eyes for the quickest of seconds before he hides it and clears his throat indignantly. He huffs "If I wasn't already aware that Persona-users cannot have castles, I'd believe you have one with the size of your ego."

"Admit it," Ryuji sings "It's just not the same! Besides, you're the only dude in a group of chicks there. Ann, Makoto, Haru...seriously man, that's just sad."

Yusuke levels him with a slightly annoyed look "It's not my fault you decided to follow our leader out here. Nobody told you to."

"I was never going to leave him alone here," Ryuji points out "Besides, with the shit that's going on now, aren't you glad I came here?"

Yusuke mutters something Ryuji can't hear but that's not important as Ryuji looks down the road and sees a yellow bike coming towards them at alarming speed. He holds his arm out instinctively, stopping Yusuke from walking as the bike hurtles down the road. The person on the bike is screaming as it shoots right past both of them and crashes loudly in the trash cans down the road.

"Shit," Ryuji yelps, running after the crash with Yusuke close behind him.

When they get to the crash, the bike is on the road with the wheels still spinning. The passenger of the bike, however, is stuck in a silver trash can, his legs stick out and kick helplessly.

"H-help!" he yelps "Someone!"

Ryuji leans down and grabs his legs whilst Yusuke jumps around to get the bin. The guy is really stuck in there and Ryuji has to pull. "Hold on," he chirps, holding in his amusement as he pulls on one side, Yusuke pulls on the bin and when it comes loose, the guy falls out easily.

Ryuji pulls him up onto his feet and studies him. This guy is easily older than both of them. Early twenties perhaps. His light brown locks are all over the place (though that may have been because of the bin) and his eyes are wide as he swipes a banana peel off his forehead. Ryuji eyes the orange shirt with big white letters reading 'FEVER' sideways, the orange sneakers and red headphones over the back of his neck.

"Are you alright?" Yusuke asks with concern as he comes around to Ryuji's side and analyses the man.

"Me?" the man laughs and flicks something brown off his shoulder "Yeah, I've run my bike into trash cans so many times it's embarrassing...I really should get a new bike."

Ryuji exchanges a wary glance at Yusuke but the man seems more or less alright. He reaches over and pulls another banana peel off his arm "Uh, don't mind me askin' but you were tearing down the road - like you were runnin' from something. You're not in trouble are you?"

"In trouble?" the man blinks "I hope not! That's all I need…"

He picks his bike back up and checks over it before turning to Ryuji and Yusuke with a smile "Say, you guys wouldn't happen to be hungry, would ya?"

* * *

Through some sort of miracle, Ann manages to talk Akechi back into the house. He follows her into the living room and sits in an armchair as Ann brings him water with a near-triumphant grin. Akira doesn't know if it was actually her or because Akechi was going to come in either way but he's impressed anyway.

"Ryuji and Yusuke have gone to get food," Morgana explains "I don't know your take on it, but for now at least, Ishida will have to stay with us as a new Phantom Thief. Better that than him getting himself in trouble by going in alone."

Akechi shakes his head but says nothing in protest. Akira watches as the other keeps his eyes down on his lap. He won't even look at anyone.

"Anyway," Ann breaks the silence and sits down "All awkwardness aside, so long as you're careful, you should be alright," she says to Ishida and if she finds him creepy or anything, she seems to have already accepted it because her smile is nothing but friendly.

"I'll do everything you say!" Ishida promises and Akira can't tell if that's because she's a Phantom Thief and he idolises her or if it's just her. Ann may be kind of crap at acting - really - but she does have a charm that makes people like her.

Akechi is quiet. It's unlike him - especially in front of a stranger where he should normally turn on his fake and friendly self. But he just can't seem to be bothered. Akira notes as well, with a touch of worry, that Akechi is specifically avoiding looking at him. His eyes flick up every now and then, at Morgana, Ann and even Ishida but he won't look at Akira.

Before long, the door opens again as Ryuji and Yusuke come back in with bags and bags of food.

"We bumped into this guy who shouted us food," Ryuji explains happily as he sets the food down on the coffee table.

"He ran his bike into the trash cans," Yusuke adds dryly but even he seems fairly happy with the deal they brought back.

Ann gasps "Oh my god, you brought cake!"

"Yeah," Ryuji laughs as he hands the small container to her "Thought that would make you happy."

Ann makes this strange happy squealing noise and settles into her food as Ryuji spreads the rest of it out on the coffee table and goes to get plates. Akira leans over and grabs a sandwich container. On the front is a sticker with the word 'JUNES' splashed across and he picks at it as he glances over at Akechi.

The other still isn't looking at him. He isn't reaching for any food either.

"So," Morgana says once almost everyone is settled with food "After this, we should start by checking out that castle. Futaba is gathering information on the owner, Minagawa, but we should at least get a start by figuring out what we're dealing with. From what I saw, it was some sort of excavation site."

"Kid," Ryuji mumbles with a mouth full of food as he looks at Ishida "You've been here longer. What's Minagawa like?"

"Eww Ryuji…" Ann winces at the sight of food in his mouth.

Ishida pauses with his riceball in his hands and hums "Minagawa is the history teacher. He's apparently pretty famous in some circles. He discovered something a few years back, a fossil they called the Mega...something."

"Megalan," Akechi mutters boredly.

"Yes, the Megalan," Ishida bounces "I don't know what that is but apparently it was super hard to find and lots of people were looking for it. I heard some people even died in the excavation site trying to get to it. Anyway, Minagawa found it and brought it back to the surface. It's in a museum in Osaka now."

"Akechi-kun," Ann blinks "You seem to know a bit about it."

"No," Akechi hums, still nowhere near his snarky or kind self. This is a strange in between that none of them are used to. A new side of him that is neither nasty or nice. "The Megalan was the subject of a robbery two years ago. I helped police track it down."

Akira distantly wonders if Akechi had tampered with that case but he knows better than to remind the other that he was actually a bastard once.

Ryuji raises his eyebrow "All that fuss for a fossil?"

"History is important," Yusuke points out indignantly "Not to mention that the Megalan isn't just a fossil, it's a piece of art. One of the most beautiful pieces of the Sengoku Period."

"Anyway," Morgana pipes up and looks at Ishida "Minagawa?"

"Yeah, that discovery made him famous," Ishida continues as he finishes his riceball and puts the wrapper down "As a history teacher though, he's pretty harsh. I've been at the end of his anger a lot of times, he doesn't tend to like me. He's a hard grader and he prefers a quiet classroom. Nothing pisses him off more than someone talking and he's been known to throw his chalk at students."

Ryuji snorts "That's normal," he points out "But if Minagawa has a castle, there's gotta be something off with him. Are there any rumours amongst the students about him? When it was Kamoshida, he had plenty of rumours. But the thing was that he used to be an Olympic athlete. He couldn't let go of his past and that was what warped him."

"Minagawa-sensei seems to hate students but as far as rumours go, he's not usually a part of them," Ishida frowns "If anything, they talk about Akechi-kun now more than anyone else."

Akechi shifts uneasily in his chair but he doesn't say anything. The reminder that he's the source of rumours - particularly amongst girls - makes Akira shift in his chair too.

Morgana hums in thought "Maybe we'll get a clearer picture of that inside his castle. If it's an excavation site, it means that he thinks of the school as an excavation site. We'll have to take a look around and try not to be noticed."

They finish their food and as they get up and get ready to go into the app, Akechi finally speaks up.

"I'm not joining you guys," he announces and heads for the door. Akira runs after him and grabs his arm to stop him.

"Kurusu," Akechi warns as he turns to look at him "I'm not going in there."

"Are you okay, Akechi-kun?" Ann asks, big blue eyes full of concern.

"I'm fine I just…" Akechi shakes his head and Akira doesn't understand. Akechi had been all for solving this, for poking around, asking questions, getting to the bottom of these fake Phantom Thieves but at the first sign of the real Metaverse, he runs.

"Just don't get hurt," Akechi says so quietly nobody but Akira can hear him before he shakes Akira's hand off and leaves the house through the front door.

Akira doesn't understand. He gets that Akechi has a complicated relationship with the Metaverse and his own Personas in particular but it's not like he's going to lose his head and turn on them the second he puts that mask on again. Akechi doesn't make any sense and it's a surprise because up until now, Akira could read him so well.

He was the only person who could.

"Hey," Ryuji says, breaking him out of his thoughts "He'll be alright. Come on, let's do this."

"I'd feel a lot easier if we had the rest of our group with us," Morgana mutters as he jumps up onto Akira's shoulder "But Makoto and Haru have university classes I suppose."

"We're just going in to take a look around," Ann reminds him "We have to be careful with Ishida around. If we get into fights, he can't defend himself."

"I'd like to try though!" Ishida points out enthusiastically.

Ryuji shoots an annoyed look at Yusuke and sighs "Alright, someone get out the nav."

Ishida pulls his phone out and says the keywords. As the world starts shifting and blending into the Metaverse, Akira thinks about Akechi. His new and withdrawn behaviour upon learning of the rebirth of the Metaverse. He thinks about the Velvet Room and wonders if the person Lavenza and Igor were waiting for was in fact Akechi himself.

The shift of reality soon ends when his feet touch the hot sand and when he opens his eyes, the first thing he hears is Ann's shriek.

"We should have done this outside! I'm in my socks!" she screams and whacks Ryuji for the hell of it.

"Hey!" Ryuji protests" I'm not the one who just turned on the app right away!"

"You told me to!" Ishida squeaks.

Yusuke looks down and hums "There's sand between my toes," he mutters "...it's unpleasant."

"Will you all be quiet!" Morgana snaps. He jumps off Akira's shoulder and lands on his two feet again, his Metaverse form has returned to him again. "Your shouting could be attracting enemies from all over. And anyway, we're far away from the actual excavation site it seems. So!"

He jumps high into the air and the group jump back as the bus lands back down on the sand. Nothing has changed there.

Morgana purrs and bounces slightly "Everyone in!"

Akira ends up driving again. Yusuke takes the passenger seat beside him whilst Ann and Ryuji argue in the back with Ishida still looking so fascinated with all of this. As Akira drives, he feels a slight sense of deja-vu. The desert is sweltering, he can already feel the sweat dripping down his back.

Beside him, Yusuke groans "Morgana, don't you have air conditioning?"

"You asked that last time," Morgana reminds him "The answer is still no."

Akira can see Ryuji and Ann arguing through the rear view mirror and it's extremely familiar. It's comforting too, like the foundations of his group are together again and it wouldn't be the same without Ryuji and Ann arguing, Yusuke making dry, blunt remarks and Akira silently questioning his life choices.

Ishida climbs up to sit at the back of the front seats "Are they always like that?"

"Always," Yusuke sighs and leans back in his seat "I just realised that was what was missing in Tokyo. Things were too quiet and Ann doesn't argue with the others. Especially now that Haru and Makoto aren't even in Shujin anymore."

Ryuji had said that Ann had her friends but she actually didn't. Akira wonders if she'd been lonelier than they thought she was.

"What are they arguing about?" Yusuke asks "I'm too tired to listen."

"Something about the last time they were in this van on a hot desert," Ishida shrugs "What happened?"

Yusuke hums and Akira clears his throat awkwardly. Ishida will probably learn, really fast too, how unaware Ann is when she's around guys like Ryuji who tend to stare. That time during the fireworks that she pulled her kimono up to wring the water out, or the time she was pulling her shirt away from her chest and unwittingly exposed her bra, whilst there's nothing wrong with it, Ann doesn't seem to realise the effect she has on guys around her.

Yusuke explains to Ishida how they take out shadows and what a Persona is and as he does, Akira is left to his thoughts. They travel back - as they frequently do recently - to Akechi.

Seriously, what is up with him? His avoidant manner isn't something Akira has ever had to deal with before. He's seen Akechi fake, he's seen him psychotic, he's even seen real glimpses of his lonely self and it's those moments when Akechi talks. When he tells Akira about his mother or he tells him about how in reality, really, nobody seems to want him around. Not really.

It bothers Akira. More than he suspects it should. If Ryuji one day came up to him and started saying the same things Akechi said, started suffering the same way Akechi had, of course Akira would be concerned and would do everything in his power to help...but the thought of Ryuji's suffering wouldn't make him ache like there's a hole in his chest.

No. Only Akechi seems to have that effect on him.

"There!" Ishida jumps, jolting Akira out of his thoughts and back onto his driving.

Through the desert, they're approaching several man-made squares and it's the excavation site he saw before. He drives close enough and pulls over, all thoughts of Akechi moving to the back of his head as he focuses on the task at hand.

"Interesting," Morgana says once he's a cat again and everyone is out of him "I've never been to an excavation site before."

"Me neither," Ryuji shrugs "But we're still in our normal clothes. That means Minagawa doesn't view us as a threat yet, right?"

"Pretty much," Morgana hums "That might change the second we get really close to the site though, so stay on your guard."

"Are excavation sites usually this huge?" Ann asks. The group approach and the closer they get to it, the more obvious it is that those man made squares are hiding huge holes underneath. Massive caverns dug out by machines and shovels.

"It's the size of the school," Morgana reminds her "Plus it's cognitive. Technically, it could be as large as Minagawa wants it to be."

Ishida is alert, looking around as the group get closer to the site. The cavern in the ground is much, much larger than it initially appears to be. Stretching out into an enormous hole the size of the school and covered by a long stretch of plastic. It goes in deep, a slope that bends down into an enormous cavern. Even deeper and it starts splitting off into different directions, a full on cave, lit with candles fixed into the walls.

Akira takes one step onto the main ground and feels the familiar whoosh of his clothes changing. The mask sets itself back over his eyes and sure enough, when he looks down, he is greeted with his trenchcoat, gloves over his hands and boots. He glances back to see the rest of his team, except for Ishida, back in their outfits as well.

"Wow," Ishida gasps "It's the Phantom Thieves. The REAL Phantom Thieves!"

"Don't get yourself hurt, kid," Ryuji mutters as he swings his bludgeon around in his hand "Guess this means Minagawa's aware of us."

"We changed the second we arrived on the actual site," Morgana hums thoughtfully "That means his consciousness, the part he's wary and protective about is here. It won't be wise to go too deep, we don't know what we're up against and…" he looks at Ishida "...we should just get a scope of what we're dealing with here."

"Stay close to us," Ann advises Ishida.

They walk together with Ishida behind them. Akira takes note of the diamonds and gems stuck into the walls, the bones on the ground and pauses when the cavern splits out in three different directions.

"Shit," Ryuji mutters beside him "Any idea where we're going, leader?"

Akira thinks that Futaba might be useful here after all. He looks over the three pathways. Left, center and right. They all look the same and there's no way to tell which way might be better.

"Start there," he points to the center route and turns to look at the others "We'll need a way to keep from getting lost."

"Breadcrumbs?" Ishida suggests brightly.

"What do you think this is? Hansel and Gretel?" Ryuji scoffs "We can't leave breadcrumbs out!"

Ann rolls her eyes and looks around "We don't even have breadcrumbs anyway. Or anything else that can be used as a tracker so we're just going to have to be mindful of where we're going and where we've been."

"Perhaps there is a map somewhere," Yusuke suggests "We never had to leave a trail behind in any other castle. If this is truly the same Metaverse and the same rules for castles, we should be relatively safe walking in."

Akira takes the lead, walking in with Ryuji close behind him. Ann and Yusuke follow with Morgana keeping an eye on Ishida at the back.

The corridor walls are made entirely of dirt. As they walk, Ryuji hums.

"Does anyone else find it weird that there's diamonds and shit in the dirt?" he asks "I mean, this is an excavation site, doesn't that mean it's meant to pick out things like this?"

"Not all excavation sites are intended for discovering treasure," Yusuke points out calmly "But you're right, it is unusual. Even if this site was created for research purposes, you'd think they'd pick out the gems."

Morgana makes this noise he makes near shiny things. He bounces "So people at excavation sites...they're basically thieves?"

Yusuke huffs "Licensed thieves perhaps."

Akira hears something ahead and glances at Ryuji. The other nods.

"Shadows," he hums "Kid, stay back."

Picking up his pace, Akira heads to the first turn and peers over the corner. Up ahead, he can see three of them, three shadows dressed like guards. Their red eyes peer out from under their dark hats, they're armed with batons and they're only a little taller than Akira himself.

"Low level guards," Ryuji hums quietly.

"They're standing in front of something," Morgana points out "Look. That thing behind them."

It's hard to tell from this vantagepoint. But Akira squints as the world turns dark and his focus centers on the thing behind the guards. It's glowing and he was expecting something square or circle, something like all the other treasures he usually picks up but this is shaped like a human. Not much larger than Futaba.

"We'll have to get through those guards," Ryuji mutters as Akira pulls his focus out and shakes his head.

"Right," Ann whispers.

"Skull, Panther, Mona with me," Akira orders "Fox and…Kid," he glances back at Ishida "Stay back."

"I get to see the Phantom Thieves in action," Ishida gushes quietly "So cool!"

"Ugh," Ryuji mutters darkly.

Akira rushes ahead and the second the shadows notice him, the atmosphere changes as it always does. It's the area Akira knows best and it's the one he loves most.

Though he doesn't talk about it. Not to Morgana, not to Ann and especially not to Ryuji. He knows this area the most. Arsene rises from him as though he never left and Akira can't help but smirk confidently when he hears his maniacal laugh in his mind. He loves the power he feels rushing through him.

 _"You've kept me away long enough, haven't you?"_ Arsene croons like an echo in his mind _"Ready to renew your contract?"_

At his side, Ann, Morgana and Ryuji are joined by their Personas. He catches the fire in their eyes, the intent, better than anyone else ever could. The adrenaline rushes through Akira's blood, fast and hot like he never left the Metaverse and he can feel Arsene's pull on him as his gun returns to his hand and his arm, steady as ever, points it at the shadows.

"Count down from ten!" Ryuji shouts "Because that's how long you have left!"

It's over in a whirl of hits and shots. Easy first enemies and it ultimately tells Akira that whatever they were guarding was important enough to need guards, but not important enough to need strong ones. When they drop, Akira races past them and stops when he sees what they were guarding.

It's a student.

He stands, just about the same size as Ishida. Around his neck are three gold medals, each for track competitions. His eyes are wide, hair dark like Akira's and curly. He wears the PE Uniform of Shinsou Academy and around his neck is a collar.

 _'Property of Shion Minagawa.'_

Ishida nearly stumbles when he sees the boy "Yuya," he croaks.

"You know this kid?" Ryuji asks and comes closer to inspect him "Is it a kid or a statue?"

"He glows…" Ann breathes "Like someone polished him."

"His name is Yuya," Ishida explains and there's a new tone to his voice. It's not his usual jumped up excitement, it's...disturbed. "Namigawa Yuya. He's the current star of the track team."

"Property of Minagawa?" Yusuke picks at the collar and frowns "Why would he be…"

Ishida chokes and Akira looks at him. He's shivering now, smaller now that his head is bowed and his body hunched over. Ryuji is the first one to his side, he grabs his shoulder and keeps him from falling over completely.

"Oy," Ryuji holds him up "Kid, what's going on with this?"

"I can't…" Ishida begs and shakes his head "Please. Can we go? I can't look at him."

"Why is he property of Minagawa?" Yusuke asks "Why does he have a collar?"

"Because he's mine."

The new voice, predictably, belongs to the King. The owner of the palace and Akira knows it before he even looks up and sees the man standing not too far from them, guards on either side of him. He's tall, covered head to toe in glittering and shimmering clothing. All golden, gaudy and extravagant. His hair is long and brown, tied back in a ponytail and his features are hard and pointy. Worst of all are his eyes, bright and set straight on the group before him.

"Such vulgar display of wealth," Yusuke growls next to Akira "Disgusting."

"Ishida," Minagawa speaks, voice distorted and almost demonic like every king ever in the Metaverse "Didn't I tell you that if I ever saw you again, I'd finish you off?"

Ishida cowers and if Ryuji didn't have such a tight hold on him, he'd collapse completely. He's shaking head to toe and he's terrified of the sight of Minagawa.

"So you're Minagawa," Morgana huffs and jumps in front of Ishida "An excavation site, like you're digging for gold. Students are not your treasure!"

Minagawa laughs and Akira reaches forward to grab Ryuji before he decks him for it. If there's something Ryuji can't stand, it's selfish adults - especially those who are in positions where they should know better, like teachers. Minagawa seems to be a perfect example of it.

"Schools are full of 'treasure'" Minagawa explains calmly "Students with talents that will one day make them famous. Where's the harm in the teacher who raised them, the teacher they owe their lives to, profiting from that?"

"You bastard!" Ann shouts at him "Those students earnt their own merit, not so you can profit from them!"

"They'll owe their fame, their lives to me," Minagawa says "All they need is polishing, dusting and to remember, forever, that they are mine."

"You're lying," Ishida hisses quietly "They don't know what you do. You rig their matches, scare their competition, cheat to make sure they win…" Ryuji helps him up properly and Ishida faces Minagawa. He's still shaking, he's still scared, there are tears in his eyes but he faces him regardless.

"And then you make your demands. Promise them the win, the world if they do what you tell them to do. The reason why I'm the way I am is because I refused you!"

"What a shame," Minagawa taunts "The star of the baseball team. You could have gone overseas, you could have gone anywhere."

Ishida rubs at his eyes and shakes his head "I wasn't going to be your anything when I found out what you did to make me win, you sick, perverted bastard!"

"A pity," Minagawa's sharp eyes set on Ishida and Akira feels a familiar rush of disgust shoot through him. The way Minagawa looks at Ishida is the same way Kamoshida used to look at Ann. It's the same way Kaneshiro used to look at money. That hunger and lust that will never be satiated and he can't tell if Minagawa wants to bask in Ishida's talents or if it's something else he wanted.

"Like an excavation site," Minagawa sighs and holds his arms out to the cavern around them "Shinsou Academy is ripe with little treasures, waiting to be found, dusted and placed on my pedestal. A shame that you can't save everyone, little Hikaru."

Ishida whimpers but it's different this time. It's like a pain in his gut and Akira recognises what's going on with him. He's seen it happen to everyone else and when Ishida writhes out of Ryuji's hold, the blonde lets him drop to the ground and takes a step back.

"Finally," Ryuji breathes, grin broad on his face as they all stand back and watch Ishida writhe and scream.

His head snaps back, Akira can see the mask on his face as Ishida's hands come up to rip it off. He screams and drops to the ground. Then when he rises again, the mask is back in place. It's white with horns on either side of his forehead, it's eyes are vicious and the only other time Akira's seen such a mask is that one time Haru took him to see kabuki.

It's the creature behind him that catches their attention, large and beautiful. It hovers over Ishida's tiny form in an elaborate red and black kimono that glints in the light. It has a beautiful face but fierce dark eyes that peek out from under a wash of elaborate brown curls and wisps of hair tied back into a messy bun. Clearly male but with an undeniable feminine softness that mirrors Ishida's own nature. Nine tails come out, black and long. Creating an almost peacock like wave behind it. It mirrors Ishida himself, who lost his school uniform and instead dons a silky black robe, under which is a white shirt and white pants with a red belt around his middle.

He glares at Minagawa who jumps behind his guards just as Ishida pulls the gun out from his belt and aims "Burn in hell, you bastard!"

Minagawa runs, he leaves two guards and Akira jumps into action quickly. He jumps beside Ishida with Ryuji and Morgana but in all honesty, all they have to do is back him up. The pure anger that comes off Ishida is more than enough to finish off the guards.

There's a grace to his Persona. Similar to that of Yusuke's, it moves like air and dances like water, slashing its opponent with Ishida's own element. If Ryuji harnesses the power of electricity, Ann takes fire, Yusuke is ice and Morgana harnesses the wind, then Ishida's looks a lot like the earth itself. He pulls the ground up from under the guards and it's enough for Ryuji to follow up with a well aimed shot.

It's over in minutes but when the guards fall, Minagawa is long gone.

"Come back!" Ishida screams "Come back you coward!"

His legs give out and Ryuji grabs him before he hits the ground. As he pulls him up, Akira senses the presence of more shadows further down. Security is up and they're coming for them.

"Let's go," Morgana says, sensing the very same.

"Save your energy, Kid," Ryuji huffs, pulling Ishida up in his arms as he takes off in a run with the others.

Behind them, the golden statue remains untouched, the collar glinting under the dim light.

* * *

When they come back into the real world, the exhaustion hits Akira like a ton of bricks. They land back in Ryuji's living room and beside him, Ryuji is panting and almost drops Ishida as he collapses onto the couch. Ann gasps for breath and Yusuke looks like he's seconds from collapsing.

It's been too long since they last had to do this.

"I'm stuffed," Ryuji sighs and leans back in the couch "Holy shit, it's like the first time."

"It's worse than the first time," Ann points out and curls up "My legs...I can't move my legs."

"Exposure to the Metaverse after a long time of being away from it," Morgana stretches his hind legs out and looks at Akira "How are you feeling?"

Akira shrugs. He's tired, but he's not passed out like the first time. He glances over at Ishida and sure enough, the boy is already unconscious, his head on Ryuji's stomach as Ryuji fights to stay conscious.

They're losing Yusuke on the floor.

Morgana looks at Ishida and hums "We'll have to talk about this tomorrow. I don't think everyone is going to stay awake."

Ann's head flops and Akira reaches over to arrange a cushion under her head so she doesn't wake up with a sore neck. Her long blonde pigtails hang off the side of the armchair and she's out like a light.

Ryuji passes out not long after and Yusuke is still unconscious on the floor. Akira looks over his group and turns to Morgana. For once, the cat doesn't say anything. Instead he's just watching Ishida, tail flicking every now and then as he thinks.

"The collar," Morgana hums, his eyes dark in thought "Property of Minagawa. What do you think he asks from his students?"

Akira doesn't say anything. He already has a feeling and he hopes he's wrong. But now that they're out of the castle, now that they're back in the harsh reality, there's another worry plaguing his mind. Akechi had run out and Akira doesn't know where he lives or where he could possibly find him. But he needs to find him.

If what they're up against is as big as he suspects it is, he can't do this alone. None of them can. They all need Akechi.

"You should sleep too," Morgana says, cutting into Akira's thoughts "You're swaying."

"I'm fine," Akira mutters and presses two fingers to the bridge of his nose. He closes his eyes but the second he does, his eyelids only get heavier. He'd forgotten how taxing going to the Metaverse could be. But he's already been in there once, it's easier to handle.

"Joker," Morgana speaks "Whatever pulled the Metaverse up again made it stronger than ever. That's why you can't stay awake, that's why you're more tired than you were before. You need to sit down, we'll talk when the rest of the gang gets here."

Akira can't. He needs to find Akechi. The only places he can think about are the cafe and his own place. Maybe Akechi is in one of those.

"Look after them," he tells Morgana and heads for the door before Morgana can protest.

He doesn't notice it until he's out, but the day has turned into evening. The sky is just darkening as Akira pulls his shoes on and heads out onto the footpath. His legs feel heavy even as he walks and he checks his phone.

 **Akira:** Akechi. Where are you?

Akechi doesn't answer and Akira rubs at his eyes. They're getting heavier and if he's going to last going back to the Metaverse, he has to get stronger. They can't keep collapsing after they come back, they need to get stronger.

 **Akira:** Talk to me.

It gets darker and colder. Akira starts to feel the heavy weight on his legs as they start to drag. His eyes struggle to stay awake and he looks around. The cafe is twenty minutes away. His house is five. He rubs at his eyes and starts heading towards his house.

It takes forever and every step gets harder than the last. Through sheer force of will, Akira makes it to the gate of his house and checks his phone. No answer. He somehow makes it inside and up to his bedroom.

He opens the door and doesn't bother with the lights as he drags his feet to his bed. But when he falls onto the mattress, he lands on something harder than what he expects. And it groans.

"Akira," Akechi grumbles sleepily and Akira doesn't have enough energy to bother sitting up again, nor to really register that Akechi didn't use his last name. He slides off Akechi and onto the small space on the mattress beside him.

He can't help but smile "Found you," he breathes sleepily. His eyes are closed and already he knows he's not going to open them again anytime soon.

He feels Akechi move beside him, a hand perching on the space next to him as he hovers over him "Wow," he says, Akira can feel his warm breath on his face "The Metaverse knocked you out."

Akechi gently takes Akira's glasses off and sets them on the bedside table. He shifts and shuffles but Akira can't be bothered opening his eyes to see what Akechi's doing. He's too tired. Blurry recollections of what he's learnt today are running in his head like background noise and he can't make sense of any of it. But Akechi's body is warm next to him. Akira can feel his chest on his arm where the other is lying against his side, almost on his stomach.

Akira can feel sleep taking him away and he's glad at least that he found Akechi. His hand grips Akechi's shirt and it's a silent plea not to run away again.

"You'll be the death of me," Akechi sighs, resigned and Akira feels the gentle weight of Akechi's head on his shoulder as sleep shuts him down.

* * *

The music wakes him up again and as that lofty, eerie feeling returns to his body, he opens his eyes and sits up slowly. The Velvet Room greets him once more. Only this time, Lavenza and Igor are not the only two others in the room. Akechi is on the other couch, already awake and sitting against the blue cushions.

"You're up," Akechi smiles "You passed out before me and I'm here before you. How does that even work?"

Lavenza holds her grimoire to her chest and smiles "What matters is that you're both here," she assures them "And now that you're both here, a deal can be made."

"If both participants are willing, what is," Igor sets his knowing eyes on Akechi, who still looks very reluctant "A deal will only work if you both agree to it."

Akechi shakes his head and looks down. Akira doesn't understand how he can be so afraid of the Metaverse. To Akira, it's simple. Maybe he'd started this because he wanted to help and because he was in danger of being expelled but things were different now, he'd grown, he'd seen the things that could go wrong if - as Ryuji puts it - 'shitty adults carry on doing whatever the fuck they want'. If he has the power to help, he will.

For Akechi, it's different. He'd used the Metaverse and abused it for another purpose. Is he afraid of what he'll become when he turns back into Crow? Is he scared he'll betray them again?

"You should have killed me," Akechi croaks and he lifts his head but he's not looking at Akira. He's looking at Lavenza and Igor "Why did you save me?!"

Akira blinks. This is new. Akechi had told him that he'd just barely survived, that he'd escaped, wounded and had to hide. Not once did he think that Lavenza and Igor had something to do with his survival.

"You have too little faith in yourself," Lavenza tells him and the tone in her voice tells Akira she's had to say this before "My Trickster, now is the time to prove to us and yourself that you're not the man you once were."

"People don't change," Akechi's voice breaks and he stares at them "I killed people. I orchestrated the chain of events that nearly killed YOUR trickster," he gestures to Akira "A smart person would know not to trust me. I'll only slow down the Phantom Thieves."

Igor hums but he doesn't say anything. He's watching them both like he knows what's going to happen and it's slightly comforting because Akira likes to think that if this was going to end badly, Igor would intervene more.

Lavenza shakes her head "We can't make you do anything," she promises him "If you'd rather stay away, we won't call you here again. We can't. But there's no denying we need you, now more than ever. Something brought the Metaverse back and the Phantom Thieves as they are will be no match."

Akechi moves his gaze to Akira and he's asking the same question he did in Ryuji's mothers' tiny garden. The answer is as certain now as it had been back then and Akira's resolve is as strong.

"I need you," he tells him and it's just what Akechi needs to hear.

The other boy huffs and drops his head. His soft brown locks flop gently and when he lifts his head, there's a new bravery in his eyes. A new resolve, shaky but solid enough to make him move.

"If you need me," Akechi breathes. He can't keep the smile from his face and it's this part that Akira understands. It's the same feeling when Ryuji or Ann or any of the others rely on Akira, when they need him it makes him feel useful. Like he has a place in this world. It's what Akechi needed too.

"Then," Igor interrupts both their thoughts "Do we have a deal?"

Neither say anything. Neither need to. Lavenza smiles and she nods "My two Tricksters," she says "We expect great things from you both."

Igor chuckles "We have a deal then."


	4. Chapter 4

**4/18 - Monday**

Ryuji wakes up slowly. He feels a light weight on his stomach and his limbs feel so heavy even as he opens his eyes to the sunlight pouring in through the living room window.

"Hey."

Ann is awake. She's curled up on the armchair with a teal blanket draped over her lap. Her hair is still in pigtails but it looks messier than usual. She yawns and leans back in her chair.

"Your mum came home, saw us like this and just kind of...gave me a blanket I suppose," she chuckles and pulls her blanket up to her chin "She hasn't changed."

"She's the same as ever," Ryuji yawns, he looks down and finally notices the weight on his stomach is Ishida's head. Ryuji pushes him off and the boy curls into the arm of the couch instead as Ryuji sits up and glances at the floor where Yusuke is still asleep.

"You have class today," Ann reminds him with another yawn "Don't you?"

"Why don't you?" Ryuji grumbles and pulls his phone out from where it's been digging into the small of his back all night.

"Well we planned on going back home last night but the Metaverse made us all tired," Ann points out "So obviously we're not going to be able to make it back to Tokyo in time for school."

Ryuji rubs at his face and puts his phone down. When he looks up, he notices the silence "Where's Morgana?"

"Don't know, I haven't been awake that long," Ann shrugs "I'm sure he's not far. Probably somewhere with Akira."

Yusuke makes a quiet noise in his sleep, both Ann and Ryuji turn to look at him. Ryuji's mother has put a blanket over Yusuke as well as a pillow underneath his head.

Ann smiles "You know he's never going to admit it, but he misses you both," she states calmly "Starting another school year without you guys around...it hasn't been easy."

Ryuji nods. He only knows that because it wasn't easy for him either. Of course he has absolutely no regrets. He followed Akira down here because he knew it was going to be the best thing he could do. Not only for his friend but for his mother as well. But that didn't make the leaving any easier. Especially when he knew Ann - a loner herself - wouldn't have Makoto or Haru. He tried to comfort himself with the thought that she would have them, that they'd keep in contact but the reality was that they were not the Phantom Thieves anymore, they didn't have that bond keeping them together anymore and Akira wasn't there.

"It's been pretty lonely for you too, huh?" he turns his eyes to Ann and she's so easy to read. She always has been, she's never changed and that was one of things that endeared Ryuji to her in the first place. Maybe in middle school, Ann had tried to fit in with society. She'd tried to be a face in the crowd but she was never going to be one and the second she realised that, she stopped caring and started being herself.

That is when she's at her most beautiful.

"I'll be alright," Ann reassures him with a brave smile "I still have my modelling work and I see Yusuke when we need to hang out and just talk."

Ryuji nods and he knows she's being brave but it won't do any good to call her out on her fears. It's not like he can change them, not when he made the decision to come here on his own and leave her in Shujin Academy by herself.

"It's just one year," Ann tells him "Then after that...graduation," she chuckles softly "Wow, that came really fast."

"Any thoughts on what you'll do when you graduate?" Ryuji asks and turns his gaze back to his fidgeting hands.

"I have my modelling," Ann shrugs "I could go and study something else, go to university but I don't know what I'd study. For now I'm just doing what feels right for me. One step at a time, you know?"

That makes Ryuji smile. One step at a time, Ann has always worked at her own pace and it's another part of her he admires. If only because he does the same thing.

Ann nods to Yusuke "He misses you too."

Ryuji glances at Yusuke and unlike Ann - whom he knows is very likely lonely - it's different with Yusuke. It's not like Ann, Ryuji and Akira were his only friends, he goes to another school so naturally he has to at least have acquaintances. But then Yusuke is weird too, unlike Ann, who walks to her own beat, Yusuke does the same thing but his beat is so different from everyone else that he's just perceived as weird.

Even Ryuji had thought of him as weird at first. It was only after spending time with him, after getting to know him and accept the way Yusuke thinks, that he understood that there was a lot more to him. Yusuke may not show it often enough, but he has the same problems everyone has. He's not that good at making friends, he's terribly blunt and he's so naive sometimes. He'd been sheltered for so long and then just projected out in the world the way he had been, it would have been tough.

"With any luck, you guys will be able to stay here a little longer," Ryuji hums and looks up as the cat wanders into the room and jumps up onto the coffee table.

"Ryuji, you're gonna be late," Morgana scolds him.

Ryuji looks at the door but no one else is there, he frowns "Where's Akira?"

"He left last night, I was too tired to follow him," Morgana replies as he licks his paw "He went to find Akechi. He was pretty worried about him."

"I am too," Ann frowns "You saw the way he left the second he realised we were going back into the Metaverse. He didn't seem to want to have any part of that."

"Can you blame him?" Ryuji stretches his arms out and nudges Ishida "The last time Akechi was in there, he tried to kill us. Then a shadow version of him tried to kill him. Then they tried to kill each other."

Morgana hums "It's still worrying. There's no doubt that Akechi's power would come in handy for us. If he still retains the same power he had before, he would be as valuable as Akira. Both of them could be our wild cards."

Ryuji nudges Ishida again and the boy groans sleepily.

"Oy, Kid," Ryuji grumbles "Time to get up, we gotta go."

"Don't wanna…" Ishida mumbles "Just a little longer mum…"

Ryuji groans and nudges him again. He turns to Ann "When are the others supposed to get here?"

"Haru said she had a morning class and Makoto doesn't have anything on," Ann yawns as she leans back into the armchair "They should be here after school. Maybe they should bring Futaba too."

"Alright," Ryuji stretches one more time and gets up "Hopefully I'll see Akira in class. You two hang around here, kill some time and we'll meet you after school. There's a cafe nearby, I'll message you the name of it later and we'll meet there."

"I'm going in your bag," Morgana tells him "I can just sit in Akira's desk. He's probably gonna be there."

Ryuji rolls his eyes and nudges Ishida again "Get up," he tells him again and pulls out his phone "Seriously."

 **Ryuji:** Yo leader, you awake yet? Coming to school right?

 **Akira:** He'll be there.

 **Ryuji:** 'He'll'? Who's this?

 **Akira:** Akechi. Akira's still asleep. But I'll make sure he comes to school on time.

 **Ryuji:** Dude, what are you doing answering his phone?!

 **Akira:** You asked, I answered.

 **Ryuji:** Ugh, whatever. Tell him the others will be here after school so, cafe as usual.

 **Akira:** Very well.

"Come on then," Morgana says, jumping into Ryuji's bag already "Let's go."

* * *

When Akira wakes, it's to the scent of coffee. He opens his eyes and turns to his side just in time to see Akechi placing a white mug of coffee on his bedside table, next to his glasses.

Akechi notices him and smiles "Good morning."

Akira sits up and rubs at his face. It doesn't feel half as bad as it did the last time he went into the Metaverse, which is good because it means he's getting used to the effects. Hopefully, within time, he'll stop passing out when he comes out of it. He glances at the coffee and watches as Akechi pulls his school blazer on.

"I'm afraid I don't know how to make coffee quite like those at Leblanc," he admits with a small grin "But I figured you might need it this morning. You were pretty out of it last night."

Akira rubs his head. He needs a shower. He needs another set of clothing and he probably needs two cups of coffee if he's being completely honest with himself. But already he feels a little stronger for having endured the Metaverse twice now, his body is slowly getting used to it. He turns his eyes to Akechi and scoots himself to the head of the bed as Akechi comes to sit at the foot.

"You...remember everything, right?" Akechi asks as Akira reaches for the coffee "About last night."

Akira pauses "Which part? The Metaverse part or the Velvet Room part?"

"The latter," Akechi presses calmly "We made a deal with...his name is Igor, right?"

Akira takes a sip and instantly the taste shoots right through his senses. Where Leblanc's coffee is known to be pretty bitter but with a richness in the aroma, the coffee Akechi made is just bitter. But it's enough to kick off the last of the sleepiness that Akira was feeling and he's right: that was just what he'd needed.

"You should know his name," Akira points out as he sets the mug back on the bedside table "Didn't they save you?"

Akechi shakes his head, soft brown locks shifting with the movement "That was Lavenza," he replies calmly "Igor didn't talk to me much. I was slightly out of it too. From what I can recall, Lavenza took my body out of the Metaverse and put me somewhere safe. My mind stayed in the Velvet Room until I was strong enough to take physical form again. I'm sure you've noticed, but the Velvet Room is nothing like the Metaverse. We can't get in there through the Navigator App."

Akira had noticed that. Mainly because almost every time he turned up in the Velvet Room, his physical body was doing something like sleeping. There was only that one time and even then he couldn't be sure exactly what had happened to his body.

"Once I was strong enough, I returned to myself," Akechi explains "By the time I got back, you had already turned yourself in. It took me some time to investigate and figure out what had happened in all the time I was gone."

Akira meets his eyes "I kept my promise," he tells him "You told me to take care of your father. I did that."

"I know," Akechi's smiles, his eyes warming kindly "I was glad for it. There were, of course, some moments where I'd wished you'd just killed him but...that wouldn't be the Phantom Thieves I know of, would it?"

Akira shakes his head but he knows Akechi is already aware of what they were going to do to Shido. Even if Akira had every single reason in the world to hate Shido - and he did - the fact was he was no murderer. There was another way to change Shido's heart and killing him would have been unnecessary.

Not to mention, Ann had a point. There are some fates worse than dying and Shido would have to live with himself after everything he'd done. His conscience alone was tormenting him.

Akechi looks troubled for a moment and he keeps his gaze down on his knees whilst Akira takes another sip of his coffee. It only occurs to him then that Akechi doesn't tend to say this much to the others. This honest and often troubled side of his, only Akira himself has witnessed it thus far.

"I agreed to the deal and I will stand by it," Akechi says, bravely lifting his eyes up to look at Akira again "If you need me-"

"I do," Akira tells him firmly.

Akechi smiles and nods "Then, I will join the Phantom Thieves again. Igor and Lavenza seem to think something powerful is coming and if that is the case, we'll all have to get a lot stronger. Not to mention there's the matter of these fake Phantom Thieves. Given what's going on, I wouldn't be surprised if these two incidents were related. But we'll have to discuss this in detail with the others after school."

It feels like a plan. Solid enough for Akira to feel like they finally have some direction.

"Well then," Akechi gets up and checks over his uniform "Finish that coffee, take a shower and we'll get going. We still have to be normal students after all."

Akira watches him, light brown locks glinting under the light, uniform pristine and fitting his slim body and a mind that runs like a well oiled engine. He has so many faces, he can fool even the most critical of skeptics and he lets very few into his real mind.

There's nothing normal about Akechi Goro at all.

* * *

During the afternoon class, Akira starts feeling his attention span waning. He feels the flick of Morgana's tail as the cat hides in his desk and it's actually kind of like having a tiny heater. Kojima is teaching something - he stopped paying attention ten minutes ago - and instead he looks out the window.

It's sunny out, somewhere out there, someone is using their name and he wonders what they're going to do next. They shot the principal in the head, students are getting counselling for what they'd seen and Akira wonders if he needs the same thing for all the shit that he's seen.

Probably.

It's strange but everyone in school is continuing as normal. Classes run just like they always did, there's always gossiping students in the hallways. Nothing has changed and yet when Akira looks close enough, he can see everything has. He's still the new student but even he knows that nobody's okay. Everyone is on edge and they seem to be waiting for something.

For the police to finish their investigations, for the fake Phantom Thieves to strike again, who knows but they're all waiting. Like they know that the next person to receive a blue calling card will end up with a hole in their head just like the late principal.

He feels Akechi's eyes on his back and doesn't dare turn around. Akechi's probably still listening to the class. His phone buzzes in his pocket and just like he's always done before, he takes it out discreetly and looks down at the group chat.

 **Makoto:** We're here. Managed to get a large booth in the cafe Ryuji mentioned.

 **Ryuji:** Dude class ain't out for another hour or so. You might as well walk around.

 **Futaba:** Had enough walking around just getting here. Can't believe this town doesn't use trains unless you're leaving the town altogether. Energy low. Need recharging.

 **Ryuji:** Are you a battery?

 **Ann:** We'll be there soon! Yusuke and I are just walking around.

 **Yusuke:** This town is beautiful...if devoid of anything to do.

 **Futaba:** I saw a lot of old people. Maybe this is a retirement town.

 **Ryuji:** Big city snobs…

 **Haru:** I saw some wonderful gardens on the way. One thing I always loved about smaller towns like these was the space to garden and keep things beautiful.

 **Yusuke:** Precisely.

 **Makoto:** And anyway, aren't you in class right now? You should be paying attention.

 **Ryuji:** You've met me, right? What was I doing all of last year whilst we were in class?

 **Akira:** Makoto, meet Ryuji. Ryuji, meet Makoto.

 **Ryuji:** Sup?

 **Makoto:** Pay attention to your teacher!

 **Akechi:** Speaking as someone enduring the same lecture, I have to side with our leader here. It's pretty boring.

 **Makoto:** Akechi, you're supposed to set an example.

 **Akechi:** Since when?

 **Futaba:** Akechi Goro, delinquent who doesn't pay attention in class. Welcome to the dark side, we have cookies.

 **Ann:** We do?!

 **Makoto** : …

 **Ryuji:** Calories…

 **Ann:** Shut up!

 **Haru:** I'll buy some cookies.

 **Makoto:** Ugh. Anyway, we'll be at the cafe when school lets out.

 **Futaba:** With cookies.

 **Yusuke:** Might I suggest miso soup to go with them?

 **Ryuji:** Eww dude, you don't mix miso soup and cookies, that's just wrong.

 **Futaba:** You know nothing, Inari Snow…

 **Yusuke:** Snow?

 **Futaba:** DO YOU EVER HAVE ANY FUN?!

Akira puts his phone down and he can hear Akechi just barely keeping his laughter in behind him. He looks over his shoulder to see the other hiding his face in his arms, his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter and he can't help but grin.

He turns his gaze back to the front of the class and puts his phone back in his pocket. In his desk, Morgana hums quietly.

"Nice to have all the Phantom Thieves together again," he flicks his tail out on Akira's stomach "If all goes well with Ishida, we could have an even bigger group."

Glancing up a few rows, Akira looks at the back of Ishida's head and he's not paying attention either. He's kind of slumped in his seat in such a way that the teacher won't call him out on it but it's obvious he's not listening anymore. It only makes sense to add Ishida to their group. Not only is he directly involved with their new target, but he also unleashed a Persona of his own.

That and with Akechi back and fully on board with this, that raises their total manpower up by two. It's not a bad start considering what they're up against.

For their last class, it's history. Akira can hear Akechi muttering something as Minagawa Shion finally walks into the class to set up. In his pocket, Akira's phone buzzes.

 **Ryuji:** Dude, that's Minagawa

 **Akechi:** Well spotted.

Minagawa looks somewhat different than his shadow version. He's the kind of man who can actually be easily ignored. Dark hair, unassuming form and blue/white checked sweater vest with a white shirt underneath and black pants. The only thing that actually sticks out about him is his ponytail, Akira doesn't know many men with long hair.

In his seat, Ishida visibly tenses and Minagawa starts in on a lecture about ancient Egypt and the crypts they kept in pyramids. It distantly reminds Akira of Futaba's castle but they have a more pressing matter to address.

There's no doubt now that Minagawa is probably a bastard. If he has a castle, he has to be one. From what Akira had already seen, Minagawa was a collector of sorts - that was the only way to explain the golden student statue. In his excavation site, he'd found the students to be of more value than the rocks and diamonds that visibly poked out from the walls.

But then what did that mean? He'd destroyed Ishida because the boy hadn't approved of him fixing baseball matches. Because the boy had refused to bow down to his commands. Akira had a bad feeling he knew what those commands were. He really, really hoped he was wrong.

"We'll figure it out," Akechi promises quietly. It's as though he'd been reading Akira's thoughts but it does make Akira feel a little better. His phone buzzes again.

 **Ryuji:** This guy is goin' down.

Akira looks back at Minagawa and frowns. When Kamoshida was in front of strangers or people who would fight back, he was kind and courteous - even helpful. But when he was around his targets, or people he could hurt he was totally different. It hadn't taken Kamoshida long at all to target Akira himself and force him into a short time limit to change his heart. But Minagawa isn't going to go after Akira. Not if he's after what Akira suspects he's after.

The Minagawa Akira sees here is not the Minagawa he truly is. He's seen his shadow, he's heard his words and it's ugly.

He really, really hopes he's wrong.

* * *

Futaba attacks Akira in a hug the second he comes in through the door. Naturally by now he isn't so surprised with her hugging him these days - she sees him as her big brother if anything - but when this is followed by both Makoto and Haru, Akechi raises an eyebrow.

"Aren't you the ladies man?" Akechi mutters.

"Dude, he always has been," Ryuji grumbles as he comes in after them with Ishida "Don't know what it is but girls love him."

"I've missed you!" Makoto says as she leads the group back to their large booth. Sure enough, Ann and Yusuke are already there. With cookies.

"First of all," Morgana says when everyone is seated and Akira has gently placed his bag beside him "Introductions would be best."

"So this must be Ishida," Makoto turns her sharp eyes on the boy and he shrinks a little where he sits next to Ryuji. Phantom Thief or not, Makoto can be unwittingly intimidating at times.

"I'm Ishida Hikaru," he introduces himself timidly and manages a small bow where he sits "I'm a huge fan of the Phantom Thieves and-"

"And now you're one yourself," Yusuke finishes for him "Well, you have a Persona."

"Hold up, hold up," Ryuji holds up his hand "Kid has a Persona but whether or not he actually joins the Phantom Thieves has yet to be seen."

"I don't see why not," Morgana points out "With the Metaverse up again, we may need all the help we can get. There's also the fact that he knows Minagawa."

"I also want to help," Ishida adds, a little braver this time "I want to help take Minagawa down. If I can get that bastard to have a change of heart, to confess to everything he's done...then that would be enough for me."

Akira thinks about the unassuming and easily forgettable history teacher he'd seen this afternoon and frowns "Before that," he speaks up "I think you better tell us what exactly Minagawa is doing. What did he do to you?"

Ishida shrinks but he must have seen this coming because it doesn't take long for him to answer.

He glances at each member at the table and sighs "Minagawa is a collector," he explains calmly "I don't know exactly what happened after he discovered the Megalan and I don't really care. At best I'm getting the gist that he got famous for a little while."

"He did," Futaba nods "The discovery of the Megalan was a huge deal and it should have set Minagawa up for life. He should have been rolling in the riches from the discovery."

"Why didn't he?" Haru asks quietly.

Futaba starts looking uncomfortable and clears her throat. "I don't know what he was buying but he was sending huge amounts of money out to an unknown account," she tells them "I had to look in the deepweb to figure that out."

"Maybe he was sending that money out to help someone?" Haru suggests optimistically.

"Would such a man really have a castle if he were helping anyone?" Akechi points out coolly "Not to mention, a legitimate transaction wouldn't have to take place in the deepweb."

"Minagawa basically has a system,' Ishida explains "You see, he may be the history teacher but he's always had an interest in 'star' students. Those who do really well in school. They could be really brainy or really sporty but if he takes an interest, it gets bad," he pales and looks down "He starts rigging things. Fixing matches, scaring off opponents to make sure this student he picked will win."

It reminds Akira distantly of Hifumi's mother.

"Then when you win and you start getting really good and all the attention, that's when he hits," Ishida shivers "He made me the captain of the baseball team and we started winning a lot of matches. We were going national, best team in the country. I was starting to get a lot of attention too, both at home and at school and it was great. I didn't know that Minagawa was behind it all, rigging every single game one way or another."

"So when did he start laying his demands?" Yusuke asks carefully.

"Not long before the final match," Ishida says "It could have set my teammates up for life. It was the ultimate chance, there were scouts in that match. I found out about what Minagawa was doing and when I confronted him about it, he told me about how everything was getting good. How we were all getting noticed. He kept saying how we deserved to be noticed at last, we were going to be rich and famous...and if I didn't do what he wanted me to do, he was going to stop rigging the matches. He'd pull his support out and my teammates would lose every chance they had."

Akira can see Ryuji getting angrier. It seems, shitty teachers are everywhere.

"What did he want you to do?" Makoto asks but the look in her eye says she already suspects she knows. Haru has gone quiet, Futaba looks disturbed, Akechi looks resigned. He suspects he knows too. Akira has had his suspicions.

The only people who don't seem to realise it's as bad as it is are Ann, Ryuji and Yusuke. Ryuji is just angry, Yusuke looks worried and Ann mostly seems to be concerned that Ishida is going to collapse at any time.

Ishida shivers "Boys who do what he tells them to do are the golden boys," he explains quietly "They get away with anything. They're the best because all of their matches are guaranteed for them to win and the ones who submit must already know that it's all rigged. Nobody would ever suspect Minagawa, he covers his tracks well. In order to graduate from this school and get into anywhere they want, get any scholarship, any university, all they have to do is get on their knees or lie down and let him..."

"Oh," Ann pales immediately "Oh no."

"Disgusting," Yusuke hisses, a flare of anger rushing through him even as he thinks about it.

Ryuji is too angry to talk and the others sort of just look resigned, like their suspicions were unfortunately confirmed.

"Let's change his heart," Haru suggests gently "A man like that cannot be allowed to go free."

"Do you suppose he is connected to the fake Phantom Thieves?" Morgana asks from where he sits, mostly hidden, in Akira's bag.

"Hard to say," Akechi frowns and flags down the waitress for a round of drinks "But if they are involved, we may run into them if we try to change Minagawa's heart."

"We'll have to take extra precautions," Makoto agrees "But there is another problem. Most of us live in Tokyo. Infiltrating the Metaverse would be easier if we were all in one city but we're not, how can we manage this?"

"How long are you down here?" Akechi asks "If everyone is in agreement, we can try and do as much as we can this afternoon and possibly tomorrow. We need at least some idea of how large this castle of his is."

"I'll stay here," Futaba says and looks at Akira "You have room, right?"

Akira thinks of his tiny bed that both he and Akechi have been sleeping on lately. It's not exactly something he wants Futaba to see but for one reason or another, it's just been happening and she might get the wrong idea.

"Spare room," he decides. Akechi twitches and only Akira catches it.

"Good," Futaba brightens "I'll sleep there then. If I follow you into the Metaverse, I can get a clearer idea of what we're dealing with too."

"Haru and I can risk two days at the most," Makoto adds with a wince of regret "I'm sorry. I know the Phantom Thieves should be my first priority but-"

"We can't ask you to let go of your university courses and life for the Phantom Thieves," Akechi points out calmly "It would be unfair on both sides."

"He's right," Ann nods "Let's make the most of the time we have now. Yusuke and I will have to do the same until we can figure something out."

Yusuke looks thoughtful "I could just transfer here."

Ryuji pales and looks at him in horror "Dude no."

"I said 'could'" Yusuke points out calmly "There is no art school here so it would be a shame on my part."

Akira feels Morgana purring next to him and feels a bit of conflict. His friends, their lives are in Tokyo and the problem the Phantom Thieves face is here. The thing is, he can't ask them to forget their lives, their schooling, for this. They can't move here just for this and they can't take time off school and university for it.

The only person who has nothing to lose by joining is Futaba. Even then, Akira gets the nagging feeling he's going to get a semi-angry call from Sojiro later about looking out for her and not getting her into trouble.

It makes Akira wince a little because all he does is get her in trouble. Granted, she does a pretty good job of that all by herself too.

"Speaking of which," Makoto breaches the subject "Since we are staying here a little longer, does everyone have a place to stay?"

Ann, Yusuke and Haru look between Ryuji and Akira.

Ryuji holds up his arms "You guys saw my place, it's tiny. I can't have you guys staying there without putting you guys on the floor."

Akira thinks about his place. His parents didn't mind Akechi and they probably won't mind Futaba if he explains that she was someone who'd practically been like his sister in Tokyo. But the others…

"I saw a hotel not too far from here," Haru speaks up "I'll get us rooms."

"Then we are in agreement?" Yusuke asks, his eyes scanning the entire group "Two days. We explore the castle and get as much done as we possibly can."

"Can we change a heart in two days?" Haru frowns, looking quite doubtful.

Makoto sighs but her eyes are determined "It's possible we can. If we locate the treasure within one day and send out the calling card the following day."

"We need to be on our guard more so than usual," Morgana finally pipes up from Akira's bag, his tail swishes around as he keeps himself semi-hidden "Not only are we dealing with a castle but we are also dealing with another group. If they can get into the Metaverse and if they're at all connected to the reason why the Metaverse exists again...we should be careful, that's all."

Akechi's eyes darken and only Akira notices the way the brunette's eyes flicker to Akira before looking away.

"Let's do this!" Ryuji says a lot louder than he probably intended to "Let's change this bastards heart!"

Ishida smiles and Ann tilts her head at him.

"And Ishida?" she grins "Welcome to the Phantom Thieves."

* * *

 **Ann:** So...turns out that the only hotel in this town is a love hotel…

 **Ryuji:** Seriously?!

 **Ann:** Yeah we looked for other options but there is literally only one hotel here and it's a love hotel so now that's where we're staying.

 **Ryuji:** Akira did you know that?!

 **Akira:** Yes.

 **Ann:** Why didn't you warn us!?

 **Akira:** Because it's funny.

 **Ann:** THERE ARE CONDOMS IN MY ROOM! IT'S THEMED LIKE A DUNGEON!

 **Yusuke:** You got the dungeon room? I got the waterbed fantasy…

 **Haru:** It's like Russian Roulette with hotel rooms!

 **Makoto:** Of course it's all thanks to you, Haru, that we have somewhere to stay. Thank you for putting us up for two nights.

 **Haru:** If there had been other options…

 **Makoto:** But there weren't so this will do.

 **Haru:** My bed vibrates…

 **Akechi:** I'm amazed they let you stay in the love hotel - given that two of you are high school students.

 **Haru:** I had a word with management.

 **Akechi:** Of course you did.

 **Makoto:** On the plus hand, they give out presents here! Did you guys get a Mickey Mouse toy? It's kind of cute. It's got the Mickey Mouse head and a really long neck...I think it's a massager because it's got a button.

 **Yusuke:** No.

 **Ann:** I don't see one.

 **Haru:** Um, Makoto…

 **Makoto:** Oh. It's not a kids toy…

 **Futaba:** O_O

 **Akechi:** I think Akira had the right idea in not warning you guys about the love hotel thing.

 **Makoto:** So when my sister calls me and asks me where I'm staying…

 **Futaba:** You turn off the vibrator and make sure the mood music isn't playing when you answer.

 **Yusuke:** How does anyone sleep on a waterbed?

 **Ann:** Don't break it.

 **Yusuke:** Can you break waterbeds?

 **Ann:** I don't know but don't do it!

 **Ryuji:** Akechi's right, Akira was thinking ahead in not warning you guys.

 **Ann:** Hey! I got a Mickey Mouse toy too!

 **Makoto:** …

 **Akechi:** Should I tell her?

 **Ann:** Tell me what?

 **Makoto:** No, let her keep that innocence.

 **Ann:** Hey it vibrates! This will do wonders for my back.

 **Futaba:** And so my night is now complete.

 **Yusuke:** I think I broke the waterbed…

 **Futaba:** I stand corrected. NOW my night is complete.

* * *

Akira's parents accepted Futaba without much trouble. He took her home, explained the situation and his father gave this kind of non-committal shrug before hiding behind his newspaper again, leaving his mother to set up the spare room for her.

"Your parents are…" Futaba begins and struggles to think of a word "...distant."

Akechi had delicately tried to find a word to describe them as well but the truth was that Akira's parents were distant. They had been ever since he'd been arrested. They hadn't even talked about it and Akira didn't know how to start.

"If there's nothing else you need," he says "I'll head to bed."

"I'm good," Futaba grins, clicking away on her computer after she'd quickly set it up again "We're gonna have to get ready. We'll have a lot to do tomorrow after you guys finish school."

Akira wonders if it would be easier if they just skipped school altogether but that would risk not only Minagawa finding out but also the chance that the fake Phantom Thieves could put the pieces together. There's more risk now than ever.

It's like they're all fighting blind. A lot like the first time they went into a palace with only Morgana's guidance. Futaba will be able to sense danger near them but they'll have to prepare for the unexpected and be ready for whatever will hit them.

Akira doesn't like the odds and he's probably not the only one. Makoto had seemed concerned as well, Akechi hadn't said a single word, even Morgana was more quiet than usual.

He heads back into his room where Morgana is already cleaning himself as he sits down on his bed and lies down.

"Tomorrow's going to be a big day," Morgana says, jumping up onto the end of the bed and padding closer to Akira "We'd better get some rest."

Akira nods, he gets dressed, brushes his teeth, slides under the blankets and feels Morgana's weight near his legs but when he closes his eyes and tries to sleep, he can't. He used to be able to just fall asleep, but tonight he just can't.

He tries keeping his eyes closed, tries turning off his mind but he can't. Sleep doesn't come and after an hour, Akira opens his eyes again and looks down. Morgana is snoring away on his leg. He flops his head back on his pillow and stares up at the ceiling wondering what's wrong.

It's not like he isn't tired. He is. But something is wrong, something's missing. Maybe he's thinking too much about what's going to happen tomorrow - or what could happen. Maybe the worry of having something they know nothing about possibly threatening them is throwing him off.

He almost feels like he's missing something even though sleeping with Morgana near his leg is what he's most used to now.

He rolls onto his side, earning a sleepy protest from Morgana, and tries to concentrate on sleeping. It's harder than it's ever been before and he doesn't understand why.

* * *

Ryuji sighs as he grabs a towel from the laundry basket and goes to the bathroom where the shower is running. He places it on the sink and glances at the shadowy figure inside his shower.

"Seriously," he groans "Love Hotel or not, it would have had a shower."

"I was uncomfortable in there," Yusuke says over the hot spray of the shower "Not to mention I broke the waterbed. I don't think the staff were very happy about that. It's their fault for having such a flimsy bed, nobody sleeps on water."

Ryuji rolls his eyes but lets the other have it. He leaves the bathroom and goes to his room. When Yusuke finally comes out, Ryuji is sitting on the end of his bed with his phone, researching the Megalan that Minagawa had discovered.

He looks up. Yusuke's dark blue locks are still a little damp and he smells quite sweet. Strange that the same shampoo doesn't last on Ryuji but Yusuke somehow manages to make the scent linger. Ryuji is vaguely reminded that he's never seen Yusuke right after a shower.

Somehow the guy manages to look good wet and it makes Ryuji really uncomfortable.

"Thanks for letting me stay," Yusuke yawns as he pads over to join Ryuji on his bed.

Ryuji frowns. He'd opened the door to a soaking wet Yusuke who had walked all the way from the Love Hotel he'd been staying in. Whilst Ryuji had agreed to let Yusuke use his shower, he said nothing about letting the other stay.

"Hey," he protests as Yusuke lies down "I've only got one bed, man!"

"Mmhmm," Yusuke mumbles sleepily, he's not listening and Ryuji suddenly realises one of them is going to have to sleep on the floor.

Yusuke curls up on the bed and Ryuji groans. He'll have to take the couch, he's done it before but his back still aches from last night. But then Yusuke makes this noise and his arm flops over the side of the bed like he's gone to sleep and Ryuji realises he doesn't have a choice.

Grudgingly, he gets up and throws the blanket over Yusuke's form. He's just about to head to the door when Yusuke reaches out and grabs his wrist. Ryuji feels a jolt as he looks down and realises the other boy is really only half awake.

"Stay," Yusuke pleads.

"There's one bed and it's tiny," Ryuji reminds him.

"I missed you," Yusuke says and Ryuji wonders if he drank the complimentary alcohol in his room.

Yusuke pulls him towards the bed and Ryuji follows until the other has pulled him down to lie next to him. The bed is tiny, the two of them are cramped and it doesn't help that Yusuke is taller so his feet hang off the edge but Yusuke's arm closes around Ryuji's middle and it confuses the shit out of him.

If Akira had done this to him, Ryuji would have kicked him off already. But Yusuke is warm and Ryuji's chest starts feeling really tight, almost like he can't breathe and he's surprised how much he doesn't want to move.

"You're warm," Yusuke whispers, his breath ghosting on Ryuji's ear.

Ryuji feels his face burning up and closes his eyes "Sh...shut up," he tries to sound more masculine than he feels "This doesn't go back to Akira or any of the others."

"Mmhm," Yusuke mumbles. His fingers at Ryuji's stomach slip a little lower and Ryuji jumps from the feeling of Yusuke's fingertips brushing against his bare stomach.

Yusuke's breath brushes against the back of Ryuji's neck and it's driving him crazy but he doesn't move. Instead he closes his eyes and lets Yusuke drag the blanket over both of them. Ryuji's heart is beating really fast, he's all over the place and Yusuke's warm fingers are still resting on his bare stomach. It's almost more than he can take but somehow he manages to sleep.

"I really missed you," Yusuke mumbles right before Ryuji falls asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**4/19 - Tuesday**

Akira still feels the pull of sleep as he settles down on his desk and subtly slides Morgana in to hide amongst his books. Morgana flicks his tail against Akira's elbow and stomach, a slow, quiet purr rumbling his desk just slightly as he belatedly realises that Morgana didn't get much sleep either. Not with the way he'd been thrashing around last night.

"Mornin."

Ryuji plops himself on Akira's desk and rubs at his face "Goddamn, I slept like a log last night. This Metaverse shit must be fucking with our strength."

Morgana pokes his head out a little and eyes Ryuji "Technically, the Metaverse shouldn't exist at all," he points out "It's back which means it's being powered by something else. That something has to be very powerful so it's no wonder the Metaverse exhausts us all."

Akira's heard this before from Lavenza and Igor. It's about as comforting now as it had been when he first heard it.

Ryuji groans "First this god shit that nearly brought down the whole damn world and now something we can't even see. Do we ever get a break?"

"Apparently not," Morgana hums, his ear poking out from under the tabletop of Akira's desk "But more importantly, we have a lot to do in one day. It's almost going to be impossible but we need everyone at their best - that includes you, Ryuji!"

"I'll be fine," Ryuji rolls his eyes "Why do you always single me out?"

"You were yawning!" Morgana snaps "The day has only just started!"

"That's because…." Ryuji stops and his face turns a little pink. Akira notices it easily because Ryuji really isn't that hard to read. But the look on his face also tells Akira that it's not something he should push just yet so he leaves it alone and looks up at the first sign of a tuft of brown locks near the doors.

The girls catch him a couple of seconds later and Akira tries to ignore the jolt of annoyance he feels when the girls surround Akechi just as he comes in through the door.

" _Akechi-kuun!"_ the squeal " _Your skin is so smooth! What do you use?"_

 _"Do you have a girlfriend?"_

 _"What school were you in before you came here?"_

 _"Did you really come from Tokyo?"_

"Still as popular as ever," Morgana hums, tucking himself further into Akira's desk "Well...if that's what girls want, maybe I'll be like that when I'm human too."

Akira shoots the cat a skeptical look but turns back to watch Akechi. He's handling the girls well. It's like he just flicked a switch and his fake smile is on, blinding and radiating and fooling absolutely everyone into thinking he's someone he's not. It's almost enough to piss Akira off because he knows what Akechi is truly like and his true personality now is not one that has to be stifled under that fake mask he wears.

It's annoying because Akira also knows why Akechi does it. As an unwanted and abandoned child, betrayed by both parents, it is almost ingrained in Akechi to seek for love and approval - no matter how fake.

Akira wishes Akechi could see that he doesn't need that and he never did.

"Are you alright?" Morgana asks, shaking Akira out of his thoughts. The boy looks down at the cat in his desk and Morgana flicks his tail against Akira's stomach. "You were restless last night. Did you even get that much sleep?"

Akira shakes his head, he kept waking up and when he did, it was very hard to go back to sleep again. He didn't know what it was.

Akechi finally makes his way past the girls and takes his desk behind Akira. He yawns into his arm and sits down "Good morning."

"You too Akechi?" Morgana asks in surprise "This one," he flicks his tail against Akira again "Had trouble sleeping last night as well. Kept me up too."

"I tried," Akechi rubs at his face "I'll be fine this afternoon though. We have a lot of work to do."

Morgana eyes them both and tucks himself away in Akira's desk "I hope we'll be alright," he mutters quietly "Because with our two wild cards out of action, we're screwed."

Akira feels Akechi's eyes on the back of his head and when the teacher comes into the class, he wonders if they really will be alright.

* * *

Yusuke wakes up to the sound of the front door closing. He opens his eyes and it takes him a moment to remember where he is because this messy room is absolutely nothing like his tidy surroundings.

Right. Waterbed. Love Hotel. Ryuji. Not necessarily in that order either.

He sits up in bed and as he stretches his arms out, he notices a hastily scribbled note hanging off the corner of the bedside counter. Yusuke peels it off and looks over Ryuji's messy handwriting. How he passes any class is beyond Yusuke.

 _'Yo,_

 _Left for school. There's some leftovers in the kitchen, help yourself. Meet us at the same cafe after school. Also, your clothes are still wet so just borrow my clothes for now._

 _And don't tell the others about last night.'_

Yusuke stares at it. Ryuji's penmanship aside, the thought of borrowing Ryuji's clothes intrigues Yusuke. As does the thought that Ryuji allowed last night to happen but doesn't want the others to know.

He shakes his head. There are some parts of Ryuji he'll never understand and Yusuke is already used to that thought. It's not like he was expecting the blonde to go up to the others and say 'Yusuke and I cuddled on the same bed last night and fell asleep like that' but Ryuji is actually, actively embarrassed about it.

That kind of hurts. Yet at the same time, Yusuke already knows he can't expect anything more when it comes to Ryuji.

Still last night...he recalls he'd been tired but not so tired that he'd forgotten what he'd done. The truth was that when he said he missed Ryuji, he wasn't even stating the whole of it.

He moves himself to sit on the side of the bed instead and puts the note down gently on the bedside table. Yusuke eyes Ryuji's clothes, messily sprawled out all over the drawers and shakes his head. He can't help the small smile that comes to his face at the very sight. It's just so...Ryuji.

There's no real way to describe him and underselling him by simply saying he's a 'normal teenage boy' doesn't really seem to cut it either. The truth of the matter is that Yusuke hadn't realised what was going to happen until he woke up one morning and realised that visiting Leblanc, seeing Akira and seeing Ryuji was no longer a possibility in Tokyo.

With Akira at least, he'd gotten somewhat used to that idea when Akira had been held up in that institution whilst they tried to prove his innocence. But Ryuji...an unexpected pain had hit Yusuke in the chest and it took him three days of severe discomfort and unease before he realised he missed Ryuji Sakamoto.

Actively, missed him.

He missed spotting his blonde hair amongst the crowds in Shibuya. He missed hearing Ryuji's laugh across the other side of Leblanc. He even missed him saying something dumb or burping or otherwise being totally uncouth. He missed everything about him and soon Ryuji was all Yusuke could think about it.

So he did what he did best. He brooded about it until Ann basically had to take him out for coffee at Leblanc to 'air him out'.

He didn't talk about it to her. Ann was too close to Ryuji and Yusuke didn't even know how to understand it himself, let alone get someone else to understand it. How on earth could he have developed any sort of romantic attachment to a caveman like Ryuji, it just didn't make any sense. It didn't help that they were polar opposites in most affairs. So Yusuke withdrew, kept this part to himself until he had the excuse to come here and see Ryuji again.

It figures that his opportunity to see the guy again came in the form of 'the Metaverse is open and we're all doomed again'.

He gets up and sifts through Ryuji's clothes before he finds something that might actually fit him. Ryuji's taste in clothes is more...colourful and loud than Yusuke would like on himself and the guy is shorter so Yusuke has to go for his baggier clothes but there is one thing Ryuji's clothing has that Yusuke finds himself liking.

Ryuji's scent is all over them. It sends shivers down Yusuke's spine as he pulls his shirt on and the scent just envelops him.

Yusuke checks himself in the mirror, tucks a lock of hair behind his ear and glances down at the bright red shirt that reads 'SUCK IT MOTHERFUCKER' on the chest.

Classy as always, Sakamoto.

He looks around Ryuji's bedroom for a moment before grabbing the note, flicking it over and writing a short thank you message for Ryuji's mother. He then heads downstairs, sticks it on the refrigerator and grabs his bag to head out again.

If he's being really honest with himself, he knows he has no shot in hell with Ryuji. The thought that he does, even a one percent chance, doesn't even cross his mind. But last night he'd been cold and annoyed and he'd allowed himself a moment of weakness to need Ryuji, to go to him and stay with him.

That weakness, he vows, isn't coming out again. For the sake of his friendship - which he reminds himself is all he's going to have with Ryuji - he needs to keep it hidden and hope it goes away.

Because he'd rather have Ryuji's friendship than nothing at all.

* * *

When the group return to the usual diner, the staff are already used to them hanging around the biggest table. One of the waitresses brings a small offering of ham for 'the cat in the bag' and Morgana happily chews at it as the group look around at each other.

"Weapons are ready," Makoto announces first "Haru and I were able to find a good deal at a second hand shop here. If the point was for them to look realistic, they succeed."

"We also managed to get some extra medicines and bandages," Haru adds cheerfully "There's a cute little clinic about a block away from the love hotel that sells all sorts of things."

Makoto is barely able to hide the smirk on her face "Hello Kitty bandages mainly."

Ryuji winces "Dude, you want me to patch myself up with Hello Kitty?!"

"If it's a bandage, it should do the job just fine anyway," Ann smacks Ryuji's arm and beams "I think we're ready. Should we go into the palace yet?"

It's at this point that everyone looks at Akira. Even Ishida, who seems to have quickly grasped that Akira is the leader.

Akira thinks it over. Despite everyone looking at him, he can feel Akechi's eyes burning on him most. He takes a deep breath. He doesn't like their odds. It's not like they've never gone into a palace before and most times they went in, they were armed but didn't know exactly what they were going to find. What changes the game here are the fake Phantom Thieves, who haven't made a move since they shot the principal last week and it concerns Akira that they've been so quiet.

But they don't have a choice. Above all other things, Akira doesn't have the luxury of time. Most of his companions aren't even going to be here long enough to see this through. They have lives in Tokyo and that's the part that makes this hard to deal with.

"Let's go," he decides, sounding far more decisive and firm than he feels as he gets up with the others and heads out into the Metaverse once again.

Before the world warps and twists around him, he catches Akechi's gaze and reads the same emotions in the eyes of the quiet, soft spoken boy beside him. Akechi is just as concerned.

* * *

Sitting in his office, Minagawa Shion sets his paperwork aside and glances at the small photoframe he keeps next to his computer.

It's old, chipped at the corners and faded from too much exposure to the sun and a lot of moving attempts but the picture protected inside remains the same.

His eyes, deep and dark, used to draw people in. He had his mother's hair, somewhat perfect and messy and he could do anything with it. Shion used to love it when he'd run his hand through his hair, pushing and pulling at the messy locks and never quite realising that it was perfect no matter what he did to it. Shion used to poke at the beauty spot near his eye, run his fingers along the smooth, youthful skin of his face and wonder how he'd managed to create something that...beautiful.

What he misses most, he knows now, is his voice. Nobody had a voice more beautiful than his and when he sang it was the most calming thing ever. Nothing ever made Shion feel more at ease, more at peace than when that boy sang for him.

But he's gone now. That's what they told him. They never found out what happened and they didn't look hard enough but he's gone.

Shion feels a familiar itch crawl down his spine and he checks his roster of students. The ones who say yes. The ones who can pretend - just for a little while - that they can be as perfect, as golden, as him.

Namigawa Yuya was free. He'd be doing track training at the moment and that would be perfect. He was as small, as skinny as him. He'd do.

Shion goes to the intercom and calls for reception "Kadoka-san," he says as he keeps his finger on the intercom button "Can you bring Namigawa Yuya-san to my office please?"

"Certainly," Kadoka replies, she has no idea what he does to boys when they get called into his office and she never questions it either.

Shion takes his finger off the intercom and glances at the photoframe again. He slowly sets it down and takes his coat off. Yuya will do for now. For just one hour he can pretend, close his eyes and pretend that his son is still here with him.

* * *

The excavation site is hot and humid when the Phantom Thieves step back inside. Akira pulls at his collar uncomfortably and looks around.

"It wasn't this hot when we came here last," Ann points out with a wince "What's going on?"

Ishida, who's been staying awfully close to Ryuji, looks down the hall they'd been in last and frowns. It's empty. The last time they were here, a golden statue of Namigawa Yuya had been there, frozen and golden, preserved. Now it was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Ishida squeaks "Yuya-kun."

"Hey," Ryuji starts when he realises it "That's right, wasn't there a statue here?"

Akechi gets this really tense look on his face first before Akira realises what this probably means. He glances back at Makoto, who shakes her head and they're the only ones who've figured it out.

"Let's go," Akira says, "Crow, Skull…" he pauses and glances at Ishida "...Kid, with me, the rest take the back."

The others comply easily and everyone seems to have accepted that Ishida's automatic code name is now Kid. Fitting, considering Ryuji was the one who chose it this time.

They head deeper into the hallways and the deeper they get, the hotter and more humid it gets. The hallways start getting darker and darker with the lights placed farther and farther in between.

"How does this normally work?" Ishida asks "You just head in, kick butt and force a change of heart?"

"Way to simplify it," Ryuji grumbles "We do a lot more than that, Kid."

"Actually that might be it," Akechi adds with a small smirk, earning himself a kick from Ryuji.

Akira notices the jewels, the stones, the gold embedded in the walls and it tells him that whilst Minagawa is aware that the school itself contains treasure within it's very walls, the real treasure to him are the students.

Specific students too. He'd gone after Ishida and from the looks of the boy they'd seen earlier, Minagawa tended to go after petite students. Not necessarily talented, but with just enough motivation that Minagawa can manipulate and use to his advantage.

Akira also notes, as he tilts his head and watches Ishida move, that the other is actually kind of pretty. Pretty, cute and young. Whilst Ishida is still clumsy, insecure and a creepy fanboy, there's no denying that what Minagawa probably saw in him was something he hoped to manipulate. A type of boy he was attracted to.

Akechi clears his throat, dragging Akira's eyes away from Ishida and towards him instead. The brunette gives him this arched eyebrow, as if he knows where Akira's eyes were and he didn't like it. It almost makes Akira want to look at Ishida again just to see if Akechi will do anything.

"There," Ryuji says, breaking his thoughts.

Up ahead in the dark corridor is another statue. The group approach it and it's another boy. Golden, frozen in what almost looks like an extremely submissive position. He's down on his knees, his head tilted upwards and eyes wide, frightened. He, like Ishida and like Namigawa Yuya, is tiny. Appears to be younger than he probably really is, he has soft looking hair, he looks like he should be in middle school and he's petite.

Pretty, cute and young.

"He's a second year," Ishida says with a small wince "He wins all the math competitions."

"Bet those games are rigged too," Ryuji growls under his breath, his fist clenches at his side "Sick bastard."

"Guys," Futaba's voice cuts in "Shadows, five of them and they're coming your way. They're really strong."

"Shit," Ryuji hisses and looks around "Do we take them?"

"There's five and they're all strong!" Futaba scolds angrily "Hide!"

Akira looks around but the excavation halls are really narrow, there aren't many places to hide. When he hears them coming in from the left, he points to the narrow hall on their right and heads into the darkness to hide with the others.

With any luck, the shadows won't come this way.

Akira crouches down low, he feels Ryuji's hand on his back and they're all tucked in too close as they watch five large shadows approach the golden statue. They look down at the boy and hum collectively.

"Lord Minagawa wants this one next?" one asks, poking the boy in the cheek "It's cute."

"They're all cute and they all belong to Lord Minagawa," another one reminds the rest with an authoritative voice "Though none will replace…"

The shadows grunt in unison and pick up the golden statue. Ishida makes a small noise but is quickly muffled by Ryuji who puts his hand over his mouth.

"Later Kid," Ryuji mutters quietly "You'll get your chance."

The shadows take him away and when they're out of earshot, Akechi pulls himself out of the corridor first and looks down "We need to follow them," he says "Wherever they're taking him is probably where we need to go."

Akira nods and Ryuji helps Ishida out of the corridor as well.

"They said 'none will replace' something," Ryuji points out with a frown "He sees all these kids as his own treasures, what are they replacing?"

'The Megalan?" Ishida suggests "Is he using them to ride on his former glory?"

"Unlikely," Akechi replies, his hand curling around his chin in a familiar fashion, he used to do this when he was thinking as the famous detective he once was. Must be a habit. "It's students. A particular type of boy he's interested in. Most likely these boys are replacing another one. One he can't control."

Ryuji growls and he's still angry "The dude is nothing more than a sick pervert," he mutters "The sooner we change his heart, the better."

"Yes," Akechi agrees softly "But I'm intrigued with what he's using them to replace. There could be someone in serious danger here. Someone we've overlooked."

Akira doesn't know what to make of it but he can see the well-oiled cogs in Akechi's head already spinning at full speed. Maybe in the past he'd had to fabricate and make cases in order to become the famous detective, but there's no denying he never needed to do that. He's intelligent enough on his own. If he had more faith in his own abilities, he might have realised he never needed to do the things he did last year.

"Come on," Akira says and leads the way after the shadows. Ryuji follows close with Ishida and Akechi trailing behind.

They follow the shadows down a narrow, winding flight of steps and it's only when they reach the ground underneath that they hear something. Like a soft, barely audible lullaby floating through the air, calling out to them from far away.

"Music?" Ishida blinks in surprise "Is someone singing?"

"Seems like it," Akechi frowns "But I can barely hear it."

Akira has been through enough palaces to know that the treasure at the end is never the same. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that the treasure in this palace can sing. Considering what Minagawa seems to view as 'treasures' of his own, it wouldn't surprise Akira at all if the treasure at the end was in fact, living.

They follow the shadows and as they get deeper and deeper through the corridors, the singing gets louder and louder. By the time they reach another flight of stairs, they can hear it enough to make out words.

 _'...everything will be alright...come to me...I'll take you home…'_

"Dude, I don't recognise this song," Ryuji mutters quietly as they climb down the stairs again. They have to hold onto the walls because it's dark, there's no light and they can barely see where they're going now.

"It's a lullaby," Akechi answers "Sweet Dreams. Basically it's about a mother who will take her child back home, nurse away everything that went wrong that day and send him to sleep with no worries."

Akira wonders how Akechi knew that when he doesn't actually have any experience of his own. He lost his mother and was passed from foster home to foster home until finally he could take care of himself. It's doubtful that anyone was kind enough to sing that song to Akechi.

Maybe it was something he picked up in the entertainment business.

"My ma can't sing," Ryuji points out "Apparently when she tried, I'd just cry more. Eventually she just read shit to me."

Akira can practically feel Akechi biting back a sarcastic or witty response and instead the former detective just mutters out a weak "mhmm". He's biting his tongue.

By the time they reach the third landing, the singing is a little clearer. It's an angelic voice, one of the most beautiful Akira has ever heard and at this rate it's actually hard to tell if it's a boy or a girl singing.

"Wait," Futaba's voice breaks into their ears "I'm picking up some readings."

"Shadows?" Akechi asks and Akira feels his hand on his back, stopping him from walking.

"I can't tell yet," Futaba replies "But be on your guard. Whatever it is, it's powerful and it's probably not on our side."

Ryuji huffs "Great, more shit to be wary of."

Akira pushes on ahead with the others following close behind him. As they walk deeper and deeper into the cavernous hallways, the humidity in the air gets worse. By the time they reach the halfway point, Akira can feel the sweat dripping down the back of his neck.

"What is this?" Ryuji complains and pulls at his shirt "I need air!"

"There's a saferoom there," Akechi points towards a door that seems to be wavering in and out of reality "Let's catch our breath."

They make a beeline for it and it's no cooler in the saferoom than it is out in the halls but at least they don't have to worry about shadows in here. Akira feels the pull of reality and the break in the Metaverse as they all gather in the room and sit down.

Makoto fans herself and shakes her head "I don't know if we can do this," she admits "If it's hotter down in the lower levels, we might not be able to go down there."

"Why is it so hot?" Haru asks with a small whimper "It wasn't this hot last time."

Akechi's eyes go dark and so do Makoto's but Akira knows already. Neither want to tell the others why the temperature rose. The problem is, someone has to. Akechi shakes his head.

"Ishida," he says, his dark eyes zeroing in on the boy "You said that Minagawa places his demands on the students he promotes, correct?"

"Yes," Ishida answers, wincing a little at the reminder.

"Those demands," Akechi continues ruthlessly "They include getting on your knees. Correct?"

Ishida doesn't even have to answer, everyone knows what it is.

"They include lying on your back," Akechi says "Letting him-"

"Stop it," Makoto snaps quietly "We don't need to say it."

"Sex, both consensual and nonconsensual includes a lot of body heat," Akechi spells it out for them and his voice is firm. There's a conviction behind his tone but also a lot of anger. "The air we are breathing at the moment, the reason why everything is so humid and hot is because Minagawa is breathing on his students at this very moment."

Ann goes pale, Haru covers her mouth with her hands in horror.

"He is using them," Akechi explains viciously "He's a monster. He's destroying their lives and I don't see why we should let him live after this."

"Because we are the Phantom Thieves but we're not killers," Ryuji answers back "I know you're pissed, I'm pissed off too. I want this guy behind bars just as much as you do-"

"No, I don't want him behind bars, I want him dead," Akechi snaps "There is nothing, literally nothing, he can do to fix all the harm he has caused."

"I understand you," Ann tries to mediate with her hands up "But Akechi-kun, killing this man would make us as bad as he is. It would make us as bad as the fake Phantom Thieves. It's not what we do."

Akira watches him. He's seen Akechi angry before but this is different. This isn't personal for him but it's about justice and Akechi may not be the detective he once was, he may not have ties to the police anymore but he feels that justice has to be served. As someone who had ties to the police, he is also aware that even if Minagawa wakes up with a conscience, justice may not be served on him as it should be.

But then who decides what kind of punishment Minagawa must endure? The courts? The victims? Akechi himself? Akira knows where he's coming from but his friends are bringing in the points that the Phantom Thieves and he himself stand by.

They're not killers.

"My best friend was hurt by Kamoshida," Ann reminds Akechi "He threatened me, he wanted me in his bed and when I refused, he went after Shiho. I thought about death as a punishment as well but there are worse things in this world than dying. Kamoshida has to live with what he did every single day and if we steal the treasure from Minagawa, he'll have to wake up every morning hating his own reflection. That is worse than death. He has to live with himself."

"And the victims?" Akechi challenges "They won't walk away from this unscathed."

"There's only so much we can do, we can't fix everything," Haru points out softly "For now, getting rid of the main problem - Minagawa himself - is a step in the right direction. Everything that happens afterwards will be on the adults."

Akechi leans back on the wall and takes a breath. He shakes his head but he seems resigned.

"In any case," Morgana jumps onto the table in the middle of the room "We're not going anywhere if the humidity gets worse. We won't be able to breathe."

"Well if the humidity is being caused by Minagawa abusing his students, the logical solution would be to stop him directly," Makoto points out as she leans back in her chair.

"Precisely," Morgana nods "We can split up. Some of us will go and stop him directly, allowing the others to continue further into the palace without the humidity."

"I'll go," Ryuji volunteers right away.

Yusuke shakes his head "What are you going to do? Beat him up?"

"I'm a student there," Ryuji points out with a shrug "And from the looks of it, I'm not his type. I can just go in there, pretend I've got a shitload of questions and distract him."

Ann looks worried and she's not the only one but Akira has to applaud Ryuji's neverending bravery. After all, facing Minagawa directly could go terribly wrong and he knows that. But he's also someone who will stick his neck out for someone in danger, even if he doesn't care for that person much. That's the kind of person Ryuji is.

"There's safety in numbers," Yusuke says "I'll come with you."

"Two should do," Morgana decides before Ann can volunteer to go with them as well "Too many people bursting in on Minagawa will make him suspicious which will make getting to the treasure a lot harder. Skull, Fox, when you leave the Metaverse, you're going to feel tired but give it your all."

Ryuji nods "The rest of you guys just do your part too," he advises and heads out of the room with Yusuke following close behind.

When they're gone, Makoto fans herself with her hand. She sighs "I guess we'll know when they get to him."

Morgana hums "We'll be ready."

Through the breaks and shifts of reality and the Metaverse, Akira can still hear the singing. Angelic, soothing and beautiful, it floats through the walls and he turns to look at Akechi. The other is still angry. Akira can still see Akechi's mind working at full speed, trying to figure this out.

For once, Akira doesn't realise that Ann and Futaba notice his distraction with Akechi. Nor does he notice the way Makoto tenses when she sees it too. His attention is stuck on Akechi and even through his anger, Akira can read him so well.

* * *

"Shit," Ryuji hisses as they head through the empty hallways of the school. By now, most of the students have gone home and at least half the teachers are gone too. The only people around are people with clubs and activities.

The light is on in Minagawa Shion's office and the closer Ryuji and Yusuke get to the door, the more they can hear a quiet whimpering.

"So how are we going to do this?" Yusuke asks, his knees are shaking and his eyes are heavy with sleep but the same can be said of Ryuji. They just have to hang on and distract Minagawa long enough to let the others into the lower floors of the palace.

"I'm a student here," Ryuji shrugs "He's the history teacher. I'll just knock on the door and ask a fuckton of questions. Should distract him long enough."

Yusuke's eye twitches in annoyance and he grabs Ryuji's arm.

"There is another boy in there," he points at the door "And right at this very second, Minagawa is raping him. You really think he'll just stop that, get dressed and deal with you long enough for the others to get to the lower floors?"

"I don't know but man, we can't keep talking here whilst that shit is going on in the office," Ryuji shrugs him off and marches to the door "Come on."

Ryuji slams on the door before Yusuke can stop him and for a moment, there's no sound inside. They can hear a bit of shuffling but the whimpering stops. Ryuji waits a moment before knocking on the door again.

"Minagawa-sensei," he calls "I don't know if you remember me but my name is Sakamoto Ryuji, I have some questions for the upcoming test and I heard you're the guy to go to."

No answer. Yusuke hovers near Ryuji worriedly as a small sound from inside the office echoes.

"Oy," Ryuji tries again "Come on, I'm desperate! They said you're still here!"

Some muffled talking, more shuffling and when the door finally opens, Minagawa himself steps out. He's dressed and he's fixed himself up but Ryuji catches the sight of a boy sitting quietly in his office before Minagawa shuts the door and leaves him in the office.

"Sakamoto was it?" he asks and sighs "This is a pretty bad time. Can you come again tomorrow?"

"The test is tomorrow," Ryuji reminds him and pulls off his best pleading look he can muster "Come on, please? Help me out. I'm behind on everything because I just transferred here from Tokyo and I need to do well on these tests for my university applications."

Yusuke blinks, kind of impressed. Ryuji is better at acting than Ann is.

Minagawa glances at the door of his office, a decision ticking in his mind. He looks back at Ryuji and sighs heavily "You're going to apply for university?"

Yusuke and Ryuji both recognise that tone in his voice. Skeptical and they don't miss the way Minagawa's eyes flick up to Ryuji's blonde hair, as if his appearance is any indication to his future plans.

"Yes," Ryuji manages through gritted teeth. Yusuke silently praises his restraint.

Minagawa looks him over again and heads into the office. He glances at the boy sitting inside and nods.

"We'll continue this tomorrow," he promises.

The boy can't get out of there fast enough. He hurries past Ryuji and Yusuke, muttering a small goodbye as he hugs his bag to his chest and disappears down the corridor. Once he's gone, Ryuji heads in to the office with Yusuke and plops himself easily down on the chair the boy had just vacated.

The way Ryuji smiles, no one would dare think he's aware of what Minagawa had just been doing to that poor boy. It impresses Yusuke, as well as makes him fear for what Minagawa could do to Ryuji.

"Who are you then?" Minagawa turns his eyes to Yusuke "You don't look like a student here."

"He's a friend of mine," Ryuji explains before Yusuke can open his mouth "Just ignore him, it'll be like he's not even here."

Minagawa looks over Yusuke once more before reluctantly returning to his desk and pulling out the history textbooks. It's a little amusing to Yusuke that Ryuji can be calm and fearless in front of a known rapist but at the sight of textbooks he goes green.

"Well then," Minagawa says, opening the dusty book up with a loud thunk "Let's get started."

* * *

When the humidity starts to lessen and the temperature drops, the group let out a collective sigh of relief. Akira watches Akechi's shoulders relax just a little when they realise what this means.

"Good," Makoto decides as she gets back up onto her feet "Let's go. We don't know how long Ryuji will be able to distract him."

"From the readings I'm getting, I'd say we're two floors above the treasure at best," Futaba adds, her fingers clicking on her laptop "That singing gets louder the closer we get."

"It's possible the treasure is the cause of the singing," Morgana hums grimly "Considering the kind of man we're dealing with too…"

Ann looks up, confused "Is that even possible?" she asks "Can the treasure be a living thing?"

"The treasure is the cause of distorted desires, it can be anything," Morgana replies "It's just that all of our previous targets had things to blame for their distorted desires."

Makoto's eyes go dark "From what we know about Minagawa already, he views boys as treasures. Particularly petite, young looking boys."

Ishida shrinks and Ann pats his shoulder.

"There's also the fact that he is using these boys to replace something, or someone," Akechi adds, his hand curled around his chin again in thought "Navi, any thoughts?"

"One," Futaba hums as she clicks away on the laptop "Minagawa used to have a son. But there isn't much information on him, only that he was kidnapped years ago and the police declared him dead because they never found much evidence to suggest he was still alive. They dropped the case three years ago."

Haru blinks "Maybe that's it."

It seems convenient enough. Akira heads for the door and the others follow.

"Mona, Queen, Panther with me," he declares and looks back at Akechi "The rest take the backup."

Akechi reaches forward right away and grabs Akira's arm. He pulls him away from the door and doesn't seem to even mind that the others are watching as he turns Akira to face him properly.

"Take me with you," Akechi tells him in a low, quiet voice "We don't know what we're facing down there and you're going to need me."

Akira meets Akechi's burning gaze and shakes his head "Back me up," he says and it's taking most of his energy to keep the real reason from showing in his eyes. If anyone can call him out on a lie, it's going to be Akechi. Akira doesn't lie often but when he does, he's damn good at it. Nobody can read him...except the high school detective.

"Joker," Akechi's voice is tense and so is his grip "You're the leader and I'll do what you say, but don't make me watch while you head off into whatever this is."

But Akira can't let him. Akechi's outburst earlier proved enough to Akira. This case angers him and Akechi's judgement usually can't be doubted, except when his emotions are involved. That and they're walking right into an unknown danger. Perhaps it's selfish on Akira's part but he doesn't want Akechi walking into it if he can help it.

"Back me up," he says again and once again, he has to work to keep the lie up to fool even Akechi.

It works.

Akechi slowly lets go of his arm and steps back, allowing Akira to head out the door with Ann, Morgana and Makoto following close behind. Just before they leave the room, Makoto shoots Akechi a concerned glance and follows Akira out.

When they head down the stairs and reach the next landing, the singing gets louder.

 _"...and I'll bring you back to me...take your fears...take your worries...sing you to sleep…"_

"I know this lullaby," Makoto hums quietly as she follows Akira "My father used to sing it to me. To think I'd hear it here of all places."

Morgana jumps up onto Akira's shoulder "If the treasure is the root cause of the singing, it's fitting. This singing is beautiful."

"It is," Ann agrees "This is the most angelic voice I've ever heard but...but why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Makoto points out "It adds up if the treasure is Minagawa's missing son. If the son is small and petite like the students he abuses, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch of the imagination to say that he might have abused his own son. To lose him must have been devastating for more than one reason. If that's the case, he viewed him as a treasure and all these students are poor substitutes."

Ann frowns "That's no excuse and it's still horrible what he's doing to these boys."

"I can only imagine what he did to his son," Morgana sighs "Humans...sometimes they can be so despicable. Yet I still want to be one."

"Shadows ahead," Futaba's voice rings in their ears "You can take them though. They're surprisingly weak."

It's a welcome distraction from his mind and when they see them, three shadows about to pick up another golden statue, Akira attacks first. The familiar air of the fight returns to him and this is the zone he knows best. The shadows jump back, turning into their true forms and they're kind of terrifying. Tall, thin shadows with pickaxes and white holes for eyes.

Arsene is just as - if not more - unforgiving as Akira himself and everything he's learnt as he's come down here has only fueled Arsene more. He feels his rage rushing through his veins as if they were his own and Arsene makes short work of one of the shadows.

He's not the only one though. Beside him, Makoto's own anger is fueled and made more powerful by her own Persona. The same can be said of Ann and Morgana and it's not so different from when they're fighting any shadow. Mementos is one thing but Palaces are always different. A distorted, grotesque form of desire that warped a person so much they do despicable things.

In that aspect, Akira can understand Akechi's anger.

Makoto and Ann down the next shadow and the last one somehow manages to resist Morgana's attack. It gets back up and looms dangerously over Akira. White, unfeeling eyes assessing him, dressing him up and down and pinning his weakness. The hit comes before Akira can dodge it and he's knocked over by a blast of ice hitting him from the side.

He hears the others gasp in surprise and it's not like this is the first time he's been knocked off his feet before. He doesn't even realise how bad it is until he sees the look of pure horror on Makoto's face and feels something warm and sticky running down the side of his head.

Makoto finishes off the last shadow painfully. Balling it up in a nuclear blast that all but tears it in pieces and when the battle is over, Ann is the first one by Akira's side.

"Your head," she winces and pushes Akira's hair aside so she can see how bad it is.

"That was really quite a knock," Makoto adds, crouching down next to him "But we're not safe here, we need another saferoom."

Futaba's voice breaks into their heads again "I'm not reading saferooms for awhile. There might be one downstairs, he's going to have to hang on."

"I'm fine," Akira insists "It's just a gash."

"It's a hole on the side of your head," Ann corrects him harshly "Now hold still, Mona do we have something?"

The blast must have knocked out more than Akira realises because the warmth on the side of his head aches and makes his head pound. He winces and he doesn't even have to look up when he feels someone kneeling down behind him and a familiar scent washing over his senses.

Akechi's arm comes around him from behind and a cold hand covers his gash.

"Told you to take me with you," Akechi scolds him.

Akira doesn't even have the energy to argue. He knows it won't end well if he does. Instead he watches as Makoto digs out a bandage and hands it to Akechi who makes quick work of the gash on his head.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Makoto reminds them when Akechi's finished and helping Akira back onto his feet "We don't have time. We have to get downstairs."

"I'm fine," Akira insists "Makoto's right. We don't have time for this."

"Then put me in the front," Akechi tells him firmly "I'm a wild card too aren't I? Use it."

Akira is actually really glad Akechi hadn't been right beside him for that last blow or Akechi himself might have been hit as well. But he's unfortunately, not wrong.

"I'll hang back with Kid and Noir," Morgana finally volunteers "Crow, keep an eye on our leader."

Akechi seems appeased and Akira rubs at his head again before leading the way towards the stairs. Ann, Makoto and Akechi follow behind closely and just as they reach the stairs, something warps. The walls shiver and waver, like the fabric of reality is tearing.

"It's a weak area," Futaba hums "We're close to the treasure now."

The singing is much clearer when they get down to the next landing. It's echoing and bouncing off the walls even as they walk through the corridors. It's a beautiful voice, almost hauntingly so but there's something else to the voice. Akira can't pick out what it is but it's almost addictive.

"Suppose this voice, this treasure, is his son," Makoto states as they walk through the halls "What then? Do we steal him?"

"Don't see why not," Ann mutters "He'd be in better hands with us than with his own father."

Akechi glances at the gold trapped in the walls, he runs his hand along it and frowns "A school made of treasure. He sees this place as made of gold. Which means he thinks that other people would see the school itself as treasure but he values the students more."

"It means he thinks what he's doing is alright," Makoto growls "That he values the students. He places them above the school itself. It's pure narcissism."

The singing is getting louder now and when they reach the last flight of stairs, Akira feels the push and pull of distortion stronger than ever before. It always feels like this near a treasure. They make it down the last flight of stairs and find themselves standing before a set of white doors. They look like normal household doors, perhaps even to a bedroom.

Makoto opens them slowly to reveal the cloud-like being, hovering on top of a four poster bed with a white duvet. It's a bedroom, Akira belatedly realises. Almost everything is white and golden. The bed, the window curtains, even the dresser and desk. Everything is white.

"Innocence," Makoto breathes in awe, watching as the cloud hovers above the bed.

The singing is coming from the cloud. There's no doubt about that now. The beautiful melody floats out like nothing Akira's ever heard before, singing the same lullaby again and again, always in that same sad, soft voice.

"Right," Morgana sighs as he catches up to them "We've found the treasure and our route is secured. Shall we go back?"

"We may just be able to pull this off within one day," Haru gasps in amazement.

Akechi looks doubtful "I wouldn't start celebrating yet. We should send the calling card out tomorrow morning and get this over and done with as fast as possible. If nothing else, the calling card will get the attention of the fake Phantom Thieves - that's when the real action is going to start."

He's not wrong, unfortunately. Akechi is rarely wrong. But just this once, just this once Akira wishes he were.

"Right then," Morgana decides "Let's get out of here. Anything else we need to do here, Joker?"

Akira shakes his head and glances at Ishida, who is watching the cloud with an unreadable face. Haru notices his gaze as well and tilts her head "What is it?"

"I've heard this voice before," Ishida whispers "A long, long time ago. But...it can't be…"

Makoto picks up on it as well and frowns "Do you know who this person is?"

"I think I do," Ishida looks shaken as he turns to the others "But I had no idea...his father could be Minagawa, right?"

Akira nods. There is that possibility and when one thinks about it logically, a lot of the evidence points to and makes more sense if they work on the assumption that the treasure is Minagawa's long lost son.

"What's his name?" Haru asks gently as she can see Ishida is quite shaken by this.

Ishida turns his eyes back to the cloud. It's still singing the same lullaby and there's conviction behind Ishida's tone as he recognises the voice.

"Sora."

* * *

Landing back in the real world is a lot like falling sometimes. The Metaverse has a way of making Akira feel like he's in a dream, like he's walking in a place that has very little gravity, makes everything feel floaty and going back to the real world is like all that weight, all that gravity just piling back on his shoulders and making his legs shake with exhaustion the second he hits the ground again.

They land back just outside the school. Akira hears the voice on his app welcoming him back to the real world as he looks around to check the others made it back alright as well.

"Oh my god, that was a lot of walking," Ann pants, her hands on her knees as she tries to catch her breath.

"It was," Makoto agrees "But we did it. We might actually pull this off in time."

Akira feels himself becoming more worried about what's going to happen after they pull this off. No matter what happens, the others still have to leave. They don't belong in this town.

Haru catches Ishida before the other falls. She looks quite shaky on her legs as well as she leans back against the school gates "Perhaps someone should go back in and grab Kitagawa-kun and Sakamoto-kun."

"Feet, won't move," Futaba whimpers, sliding down to sit on the ground "I don't remember it being this hard to walk."

Ann pulls herself up and takes a deep breath.

"I'll go," she volunteers "Maybe we should find a place to regroup."

"My apartment should suffice," Akechi speaks weakly, he's leaning against the school wall as well and he looks exhausted "I'll message the address."

Makoto looks like she's noticing Akechi's exhaustion and it's similar to her own. After all, she, Haru and Akechi hadn't been in the Metaverse before today. Of course the first time was always going to be more exhausting.

Ann hobbles inside the school with Morgana as Akira goes to help Futaba up first. He takes her hands, intending to help her stand but she clearly has more energy than she let on when she turns him around and jumps up onto his back. Akira sort of just lets her and reaches down to help Makoto and Haru up as well.

When Akechi turns around, Futaba is on Akira's back, Makoto has his right arm and Haru is clinging to his left.

Akechi gives him this one unimpressed raised eyebrow before leading the way down the street.

"Let's go," he says grumpily "I don't want to be caught out here whilst I'm this tired."

Akira watches his back, hunched up from irritation and the almost drunken way in which he walks. It makes him smile and he doesn't realise that the girls notice the way he looks at Akechi. Nor does he catch the way Futaba shoots a worried look at Makoto as the group follow.

Akechi's apartment turns out to be a relatively modern looking building. As he leads them in through the lobby, they're almost immediately confronted by a tall, older looking man with dark hair that flops over his head like a mop. His eyes are even darker and he's not Japanese. He's about a head taller than both Akechi and Akira and looks down at them with a small raised eyebrow.

"Akechi-kun," he hums as he looks over the group "You have friends?"

"Everyone, this is my landlord," Akechi introduces the man "Ariga Johnny-san."

"Please just call me Johnny," the man grins and there's a lazy, easy casualness to him that's easy to warm up to. From his leather jacket all the way down to his dusty blue jeans. He brings out a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes at his forehead before turning to Akechi "Now, kid," he hums "You know my rules on houseguests in your apartment."

"My apologies," Akechi says and this is his adult mode talking. Akechi does know how to handle adults but something tells Akira that Johnny is a little different from your standard adult. "I didn't have enough time for a proper warning and they won't be long."

Johnny looks at Akira in particular and he must seem strange with three girls hanging off him but he doesn't say anything. Instead he turns back to Akechi and sighs "Alright then, boy."

He wanders off and when he's gone, that pleasant, fake smile is wiped off Akechi's face so fast. He leads them to the elevator and takes them up to the fifth floor where his apartment is number 506.

It's not a large apartment. In fact it's pretty tiny with one kitchen that doubles as a living room if you watch TV from the dining table. He has a door adjacent from the entrance that leads to a little closet with a washing machine and the door next to it is the bathroom. Akechi leans over to close the door to his bedroom and gestures to the kitchen table.

"I'm afraid I don't have couches," he tells them as they climb off Akira and sit down at the table instead.

"Wow," Ishida murmurs, sitting down with Haru "Your place is nice."

"It's small but it's only me living in it," Akechi corrects him as the doorbell rings. He goes to let in the rest and Akira leans against the wall. There are only six chairs at the table and the others look far more tired than he is.

Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke and Morgana enter and when everyone is spread out in the kitchen, Akechi rubs at his eyes.

"So," Ann breaks the sleepy silence "What's the plan?"

"I haven't felt this exhausted in years," Makoto admits quietly "Is the Metaverse stronger?"

The others nod and she rubs at her head "We're going to have to work fast. Now that we know where the treasure is, we need to send out the calling card tomorrow morning."

"Yusuke, Ryuji and Futaba," Akira decides "You guys can handle that."

"Roger that," Futaba yawns and closes her laptop where she's almost curled up at the end of the table "I'm totally out, I think we need to go home, leader."

Akechi twitches again at the reminder that Futaba is in Akira's house and again, Akira's the only one who notices this. The others only yawn their agreements.

"If I get a nap in now," Yusuke says mid-yawn "I'll be able to work on the calling card tonight."

"I'm with you there," Ryuji agrees and there's a nod that nobody but Yusuke himself notices. The nod makes the blue haired boy grin happily as it's permission to sleep at Ryuji's place again.

"Alright," Makoto sighs "Everyone get some sleep, we'll be on the group chat tonight to figure out plans for tomorrow. Whatever comes, we've got to be ready."

It almost feels like traversing Minagawa's palace was the practice run and the real stuff begins tomorrow. Nobody says it, but the fact that they don't really know what they're up against is concerning. It's not like this is a shadow they can take down with their Personas, someone came up and shot the principal in the head with a gun. It's a totally different playing field.

Yet at the same time, they can't ignore it now.

Haru, Makoto and Ann get up first to leave. They yawn their goodbyes as they shuffle out the door. Ryuji gets this sort of resigned look on his face and sighs.

"Come on Yusuke," he mutters. Yusuke beams happily and follows him out as well.

Ishida still looks disturbed by what he'd seen that day but he's like the others. There's a determination in his eyes, a decision that he will not let this rest that says he's just as much a Phantom Thief as the others. His conviction is in the right place and he nods to Akira before he heads out as well.

Morgana hops into Akira's bag and Futaba leans down to pick it up along with her laptop. She turns to him "Shall we go?"

"Hang back a bit," Akechi finally speaks and looks at Akira "I've got something I need to tell you."

Futaba looks at Akechi for a moment and heads out first with Morgana. When she closes the door behind her, Akira turns to look at Akechi.

The brown haired boy looks tired but there's something else to it now. He pushes himself off the wall and walks around the table to where Akira is and for once, Akira can't read the look in his eyes. Akechi stops in front of him and reaches a hand up, he pushes Akira's hair aside and his eyes flick up as he examines the healing gash on the side of his head.

"Looks alright," Akechi breathes. His fingertips are warm and send all sorts of confusing sparks through Akira's body. He wonders if Akechi knows what he's doing.

"You're not feeling dizzy or anything, are you?" Akechi asks, eyes flicking back down to meet Akira's and Akira is so concentrated on the feeling of Akechi's fingertips that he almost misses the question entirely.

He shakes his head and Akechi gets this confused look for a moment before a sudden realisation makes him pull his fingers away. Akira misses them immediately.

"Well…" Akechi clears his throat and takes a safe step back. It's too far away, Akira doesn't know why but he doesn't like it.

Akechi's avoiding his eye contact now. He's looking down at his feet and it's so unlike the normal, composed boy Akira knows. It's new and not entirely unwelcome. Akira likes it when Akechi shows he's somewhat human. His real self, hidden underneath the crowd-pleasing smile, is unsure of himself, shy and even a little insecure. It's such a contrast that Akira wonders how he manages to hide that side of him and show a smile worthy of the TV screens when inside he's really different.

"Get some sleep," Akira advises and heads towards the door. He just reaches it when Akechi answers him.

"I can't sleep," he mutters so quietly that Akira almost doesn't hear him.

Akira remembers the night before. How he'd had so much trouble sleeping and it had confused the hell out of him. It was just like normal, he had Morgana on his bed, he'd slept plenty of times like that but last night had been difficult.

He hadn't realised it had been difficult for Akechi to fall asleep too.

He's about to answer when the door opens and Futaba pokes her head out.

"Akira," she says "Come on, I'm dying here and Morgana fell asleep in the bag. He weighs a ton."

Akechi isn't looking at him anymore. Akira doesn't know what to say, he lets Futaba drag him out and the last thing he sees before the door closes is Akechi alone. Always alone. The door closes on his tiny frame and Akira follows Futaba out into the air outside.

The pull of sleep is itching at his eyes and he's exhausted but when he gets home and leaves Morgana to sleep in his bag, he lies on his bed and tries to sleep.

He can't.

Akechi's figure, alone and tiny haunts his mind and Akira closes his eyes. He tries his hardest but sleep doesn't come.

* * *

 **Ryuji:** Calling Card finished! Only took us three hours…

 **Yusuke:** That was your fault. You kept rejecting all the ideas I had.

 **Ann:** Now I'm worried…

 **Ryuji:** It's fine. It's perfect. We gotta show up those fake Phantom Thieves and this will get their attention!

 **Yusuke:** He's not wrong. It is a work of art...if I do say so myself.

 **Makoto:** So long as it works.

 **Ryuji:** It will!

 **Haru:** How is everyone feeling?

 **Makoto:** Tired, but with the strength of the Metaverse, it's no wonder.

 **Ryuji:** This ain't my first time in the new Metaverse so I'm not that bad. Must be getting used to it.

 **Yusuke:** Our leader is mysteriously absent from this conversation…

 **Futaba:** He hasn't come out of his room yet. Akechi's not answering either.

 **Makoto:** Maybe they're still asleep.

 **Haru:** Akira did get hurt…

 **Ryuji:** He's tough, he's dealt with worse. Anyway, Navi, I'll leave the rest to you.

 **Futaba:** Leave it to me! That sicko will be hit with the stick of truth before he even realises what hit him!

 **Yusuke:** But if he doesn't realise what he's been hit by, how will it work?

 **Futaba:** …

 **Yusuke:** And if he does realise what hit him, isn't that the point of the calling card? To make the subject aware of their own desires by calling them out on it?

 **Futaba:** YOU KNOW NOTHING INARI SNOW!

 **Akechi:** This is the team that foiled my plans and almost killed me? I'm so embarrassed...


End file.
